Depression can triple the risk of developing Parkinson's disease, according to researchers.
Scientists in Taiwan studied the medical records of 4,634 people with depression and 18,544 depression-free individuals for 10 years.
During the follow-up, 1.42 per cent of depression sufferers were diagnosed with Parkinson's compared with 0.52 per cent of non-depressed participants.
Scientists in Taiwan found people with depression were 3.24 times more likely to develop Parkinson's
People with depression were 3.24 times more likely to develop the disease than those without the mental health problem, said the researchers writing online in the journal Neurology.
However, scientists do not know whether depression is an early symptom of the neurodegenerative disease or a cause.
Depression has proven links to range of illnesses including cancer and stroke.
Authors of the study in Taiwan said the risks of being diagnosed with Parkinson's increased with age and having depression that did not respond to treatment.
Age and people with hard-to-treat depression are significant risk factors, according to the research
According to Parkinson's UK, one in 500 people in the UK have the disease - a progressive neurological condition.
Mental health charities say depression affects one in five older people and about five million people in the country are living with the illness.
Lead author Dr Albert Yang, from Taipei Veterans General Hospital, said: 'Our study suggests that depression may also be an independent risk factor for Parkinson's disease.
'Many questions remain, including whether depression is an early symptom of Parkinson's disease rather than an independent risk factor for the disease.
'Our study also found that depression and older age, and having difficult-to-treat depression, were significant risk factors as well.'
Parkinson's UK said more research was needed into the link.
Dr Katie Le Blond, research development manager at the charity, told The Telegraph newspaper: 'This study found that people with depression were more likely to develop Parkinson's than those without depression.
'But even among those with depression, the number of people who went on to develop Parkinson's was still only a fraction of those who took part. So there is by no means a direct link.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2442249/Depression-triple-risk-developing-Parkinsons-disease-scientists-say.html#ixzz2gfdj6bAZ
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