Living Near Golf Course Doubles Risk Of This Disease: What To Know In PA

PENNSYLVANIA — Pennsylvanians who live near a golf course are at a significantly heightened risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, a neurological disorder that degenerates nerve cells in the brain, a new study suggests.

A new study published Thursday in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that pesticides, chiefly used to improve the aesthetic appeal of greens and fairways, are to blame. These chemicals often leach into water supplies and become airborne.

Residents who live within a mile of a golf course are about twice as likely to develop Parkinson's as someone who lives more than six miles away, the study found.

Further, people who get their drinking water from municipal systems that include golf courses are at almost twice the risk of developing the neurological disorder than those living in water service areas without golf courses, researchers said.

Pennsylvania has 697 golf courses, or about 0.015 courses per square mile, according to data from NBC’s Golf Now and the National Golf Foundation, making it one of the most golf-dense states in America. Only five other states — California, Texas, New York, Michigan, and Ohio — have more courses.

Centers for Disease and Prevention data shows 1,725 Pennsylvanians died of Parkinson’s disease in 2022, the latest year for which data is available. The death rate was about 9.2 per 100,000 people. Importantly, the CDC said its data does not take into account state-specific population characteristics that may affect the levels of mortality.

The case-control study, led by Brittany Krzyzanowski of the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, was regionally based, but researchers are planning a broader study.

Researchers have previously tied Parkinson’s to environmental contaminants. However, few studies have looked directly at the relationship between pesticide exposure from golf courses and Parkinson’s, the researchers noted.

By far the greatest risk is in areas with “vulnerable groundwater,” where the pesticides can easily seep into water supplies, the researchers found. Those are regions with coarse-textured soils, shallow limestone bedrock or karst geology, which has slowly dissolved over time, creating sinkholes, caves and underground drainage systems.

These underground voids allow for the rapid movement of surface water, and that means pesticides applied to grass or crops can more easily get into the groundwater after rain, according to the researchers.

Krzyzanowski told MedPage Today there are steps people living near golf courses can take to minimize their risk.

“Get in touch with the golf course and ask what days and times they spray,” she said. “During spray times, try to stay indoors. You can also consider using a carbon water filter to reduce the risk of contamination from drinking water.”

The researchers recognized several limitations in their study, which was based on golf course boundaries from 2013. One key assumption made by the researchers was that the golf courses considered in the study were already in existence prior to 2013 and that the types of pesticides used on them may have changed over time. Additionally, the researchers pointed out limitations regarding the address histories of study participants and noted that the results could have been affected by other factors.

Researchers said their findings warrant further study.

“Our study complements, and expands on, the limited research on golf courses and Parkinson's disease, but more research is needed to fully understand the risks,” Krzyzanowski told MedPage Today. “Our next step is to replicate this study nationwide in a dataset of more than 22 million Medicare beneficiaries and approximately 16,000 golf courses.”