We are looking for people with Parkinson’s who are between 65 and 75 years old, diagnosed less than 10 years ago, based within the M25 to take part in an innovative and engaging study at UCL, London.

Research Aims

The study is using visual tests as a clue to understand differences between people with Parkinson’s disease. We relate scores from our vision tests to MRI brain and retinal scans. We then follow people for 3 years to test these relationships over time. Being able to pick up differences through eye tests and memory tests will help us develop important outcome measures that can be used for clinical trials in the future.

What will it involve?

The study visit will involve

• some vision tests on a computer
• thinking and memory tests
• smell test
• Parkinson’s movement tests
• Blood test
• MRI Brain scan
• Eye test by an ophthalmologist
• Retinal scan

The study visit lasts most of the day (9-4.30), with plenty of breaks.  There are no medication changes.

We will ask people to take part once a year for 3 years, if possible.

Who is running the study?

The study is run by Dr Rimona Weil, Consultant Neurologist, at the Institute of Neurology, which is part of University College London.

It is funded by the Wellcome Trust.

Will I get feedback on the study?

The results are all analysed as a group, so we don’t have individual feedback. We will report updates to participants by email approximately once per year.

Interim results leading to publications will also be relayed to participants, via email and via our blog https://medium.com/vision-in-parkinsons