Lawmakers take step to understand Utah's high prevalence of Parkinson's disease

SALT LAKE CITY — Lawmakers unanimously supported the creation of a Parkinson's disease registry in the state Friday.

HCR8 calls for the creation of a registry in order to allow researchers an opportunity to study the impact and prevalence of the disease, which is a brain disorder that leads to difficulty with movement and coordination.

Parkinson's most often develops after age 50 and has been found to affect more than twice as many people in Utah than is average across the nation, according to the resolution sponsor, Rep. Stewart Barlow, R-Fruit Heights.

"But also in Utah, we are blessed with having fantastic genealogy that can tap into (the prevalence) … to try to give us a better understanding of this debilitating disease of our senior citizen population," he said.

Barlow said the registry will be supported by public funding of nearly $500,000 that has already been secured from private donors. The Utah Department of Health will be charged with hosting the service and determining the best applications.

The resolution received support from the House Health and Human Services Committee on Friday and was placed on the consent calendar for further consideration from the full body of the House.

— Wendy Leonard

Twitter: wendyleonards