🌅 Dogs can smell Parkinson’s disease

SOURCE

Rooney et al. (2025)

WHAT TO KNOW

• People with Parkinson’s disease have a scent that dogs can identify with up to 80% sensitivity (i.e., accurately identifying people who have Parkinson’s) and 98% specificity (i.e., accurately identifying people who do not have Parkinson’s). The authors of the present study found dogs can detect the disease in sebum swabs years before traditional symptoms start, opening new opportunities for earlier treatment that could slow disease progression and reduce symptom intensity.

WHY IT MATTERS

• While there is currently no test for Parkinson’s disease, experts say familiar symptoms like shaking, muscle rigidity, and slowed movement can start up to 20 years before becoming visible and leading to a confirmed diagnosis. Parkinson’s researchers turn to dogs because excess sebum and a change in body odor can precede the symptoms by years.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• Beyond Parkinson’s, dogs can also help scientists detect different types of cancers. A 2019 study found dogs can accurately detect lung cancer in human blood samples with up to 97% accuracy, and a recent study combining dogs’ ability to smell cancer with an AI model designed to interpret their cues found dogs can identify four types of cancers from patients' breath with up to 94% accuracy.