HEALTH chiefs have urged people to look out for the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

Around one in 500 people are affected by Parkinson's in the UK.

Blackburn with Darwen and East Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) bosses want people to know its signs and symptoms.

The calls have been during Parkinson's Awareness Week between April 9 and April 15.

Parkinson's is a condition in which parts of the brain become progressively damaged over a number of years.

It causes three main symptoms, although not all of them are at the same time.

These are involuntary shaking of particular parts of the body (tremor), slow movement and stiff and inflexible muscles.

It is a condition which there is no cure for and it is not known why it develops in some people.

Dr Rakesh Sharma clinical lead at the CCGs said: Most cases of Parkinson's disease start to develop on people when they're over fifty, although, for 1 in 20, symptoms can start to show when they're under forty.

"Make sure you're aware of the symptoms and know that for most people with Parkinson's, they don't have all three."

Concerned patients should talk to their GP.