Exercise in middle age may reduce the risk of Parkinson's disease later in life. Caffeine also appears protective with a greater decrease in risk occurring with a larger intake of caffeinated beverages such as coffee. People who smoke cigarettes or use smokeless tobacco are less likely than non-smokers to develop PD, and the more they have used tobacco, the less likely they are to develop PD. It is not known what underlies this effect. Tobacco use may actually protect against PD, or it may be that an unknown factor both increases the risk of PD and causes an aversion to tobacco or makes it easier to quit using tobacco.

Antioxidants, such as vitamins C and E, have been proposed to protect against the disease, but results of studies have been contradictory and no positive effect has been proven. The results regarding fat and fatty acids have been contradictory, with various studies reporting protective effects, risk-increasing effects or no effects. There have been preliminary indications that the use of anti-inflammatory drugs and calcium channel blockers may be protective. A 2010 meta-analysis found that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (apart from aspirin), have been associated with at least a 15 percent (higher in long-term and regular users) reduction of incidence of the development of Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson-plus syndromes are usually more rapidly progressive and less likely to respond to antiparkinsonian medication than PD. However, the additional features of the diseases may respond to medications not used in PD.

Current therapy for Parkinson-plus syndromes is centered around a multidisciplinary treatment of symptoms.

These disorders have been linked to pesticide exposure.

Neurodegeneration is the progressive loss of structure or function of neurons, including death of neurons. Many neurodegenerative diseases – including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and Huntington's – occur as a result of neurodegenerative processes. Such diseases are incurable, resulting in progressive degeneration and/or death of neuron cells. As research progresses, many similarities appear that relate these diseases to one another on a sub-cellular level. Discovering these similarities offers hope for therapeutic advances that could ameliorate many diseases simultaneously. There are many parallels between different neurodegenerative disorders including atypical protein assemblies as well as induced cell death. Neurodegeneration can be found in many different levels of neuronal circuitry ranging from molecular to systemic.

A July, 2012, study suggested that mesenchymal stem cell therapy could delay the progression of neurological deficits in patients with MSA-cerebellar type, suggesting the potential of mesenchymal stem cell therapy as a treatment candidate of MSA.

Clinical presentation of CBD usually does not occur until age 60, with the earliest recorded diagnosis and subsequent postmortem verification being age 28. Although men and women present with the disease, some analysis has shown a predominant appearance of CBD in women. Current calculations suggest that the prevalence of CBD is approximately 4.9 to 7.3 per 100,000 people. The prognosis for an individual diagnosed with CBD is death within approximately eight years, although some patients have been diagnosed over 17 years ago (2017) and are still in relatively good standing, but with serious debilitation such as dysphagia, and overall limb rigidity. The partial (or total) use of a feeding tube may be necessary and will help prevent aspiration pneumonia, primary cause of death in CBD. Incontinence is common, as patients often can't express their need to go, due to eventual loss of speech. Therefore, proper hygiene is mandatory to prevent urinary tract infections.

MSA usually progresses more quickly than Parkinson's disease. There is no remission from the disease. The average remaining lifespan after the onset of symptoms in patients with MSA is 7.9 years. Almost 80% of patients are disabled within five years of onset of the motor symptoms, and only 20% survive past 12 years. Rate of progression differs in every case and speed of decline may vary widely in individual patients.

O’Sullivan and colleagues (2008) identified early autonomic dysfunction to be the most important early clinical prognostic feature regarding survival in MSA. Patients with concomitant motor and autonomic dysfunction within three years of symptom onset had a shorter survival duration, in addition to becoming wheelchair dependent and bed-ridden at an earlier stage than those who developed these symptoms after three years from symptom onset. Their study also showed that when patients with early autonomic dysfunction develop frequent falling, or wheelchair dependence, or severe dysphagia, or require residential care, there is a shorter interval from this point to death.

PD invariably progresses with time. A severity rating method known as the Unified Parkinson's disease rating scale (UPDRS) is the most commonly used metric for clinical study. A modified version known as the MDS-UPDRS is also sometimes used. An older scaling method known as the Hoehn and Yahr scale (originally published in 1967), and a similar scale known as the Modified Hoehn and Yahr scale, have also been commonly used. The Hoehn and Yahr scale defines five basic stages of progression.

Motor symptoms, if not treated, advance aggressively in the early stages of the disease and more slowly later. Untreated, individuals are expected to lose independent ambulation after an average of eight years and be bedridden after ten years. However, it is uncommon to find untreated people nowadays. Medication has improved the prognosis of motor symptoms, while at the same time it is a new source of disability, because of the undesired effects of levodopa after years of use. In people taking levodopa, the progression time of symptoms to a stage of high dependency from caregivers may be over 15 years. However, it is hard to predict what course the disease will take for a given individual. Age is the best predictor of disease progression. The rate of motor decline is greater in those with less impairment at the time of diagnosis, while cognitive impairment is more frequent in those who are over 70 years of age at symptom onset.

Since current therapies improve motor symptoms, disability at present is mainly related to non-motor features of the disease. Nevertheless, the relationship between disease progression and disability is not linear. Disability is initially related to motor symptoms. As the disease advances, disability is more related to motor symptoms that do not respond adequately to medication, such as swallowing/speech difficulties, and gait/balance problems; and also to levodopa-induced complications, which appear in up to 50% of individuals after 5 years of levodopa usage. Finally, after ten years most people with the disease have autonomic disturbances, sleep problems, mood alterations and cognitive decline. All of these symptoms, especially cognitive decline, greatly increase disability.

The life expectancy of people with PD is reduced. Mortality ratios are around twice those of unaffected people. Cognitive decline and dementia, old age at onset, a more advanced disease state and presence of swallowing problems are all mortality risk factors. On the other hand, a disease pattern mainly characterized by tremor as opposed to rigidity predicts an improved survival. Death from aspiration pneumonia is twice as common in individuals with PD as in the healthy population.

In 2013 PD resulted in about 103,000 deaths globally, up from 44,000 deaths in 1990. The death rate increased from an average of 1.5 to 1.8 per 100,000 during that time.

Patients with severe forms of MJD have a life expectancy of approximately 35 years. Those with mild forms have a normal life expectancy. The cause of death of those who die early is often aspiration pneumonia.

Parkinson-plus syndromes, also known as disorders of multiple system degeneration, is a group of neurodegenerative diseases featuring the classical features of Parkinson's disease (tremor, rigidity, akinesia/bradykinesia, and postural instability) with additional features that distinguish them from simple idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD). Some consider Alzheimer's disease to be in this group. Parkinson-plus syndromes are either inherited genetically or occur sporadically.

The atypical parkinsonian or Parkinson-plus syndromes are often difficult to differentiate from PD and each other. They include multiple system atrophy (MSA), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), and corticobasal degeneration (CBD). Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), may or may not be part of the PD spectrum, but it is increasingly recognized as the second-most common type of neurodegenerative dementia after Alzheimer's disease. These disorders are currently lumped into two groups, the synucleinopathies and the tauopathies. They may coexist with other pathologies.

Additional Parkinson-plus syndromes include Pick's disease and olivopontocerebellar atrophy. The latter is characterized by ataxia and dysarthria, and may occur either as an inherited disorder or as a variant of multiple system atrophy. MSA is also characterized by autonomic failure, formerly known as Shy–Drager syndrome.

Clinical features that distinguish Parkinson-plus syndromes from idiopathic PD include symmetrical onset, a lack of or irregular resting tremor, and a reduced response to dopaminergic drugs (including levodopa). Additional features include bradykinesia, early-onset postural instability, increased rigidity in axial muscles, dysautonomia, alien limb syndrome, supranuclear gaze palsy, apraxia, involvement of the cerebellum including the pyramidal cells, and in some instances significant cognitive impairment.

Currently, an estimated 60 to 75% of diagnosed dementias are of the Alzheimer's and mixed (Alzheimer's and vascular dementia) type, 10 to 15% are Lewy body type, with the remaining types being of an entire spectrum of dementias, including frontotemporal lobar degeneration (Pick's disease), alcoholic dementia, pure vascular dementia, etc. Dementia with Lewy bodies tends to be under-recognized. Dementia with Lewy bodies is slightly more prevalent in men than women. DLB increases in prevalence with age; the mean age at presentation is 75 years.

Dementia with Lewy bodies affects about one million individuals in the United States.

Survival rates for those diagnosed with typical PKAN is 11.18 years with a standard deviation of 7.8 years.

There is no cure or treatment for GSS. It can, however, be identified through genetic testing. GSS is the slowest to progress among human prion diseases. Duration of illness can range from 3 months to 13 years, with an average duration of 5 or 6 years.

GSS is one of a small number of diseases that are caused by prions, a class of pathogenic proteins highly resistant to proteases.

A change in codon 102 from proline to leucine has been found in the prion protein gene ("PRNP", on chromosome 20) of most affected individuals. Therefore, it appears this genetic change is usually required for the development of the disease.

The Huntington's disease-like syndromes (often abbreviated as HD-like or "HDL" syndromes) are a family of inherited neurodegenerative diseases that closely resemble Huntington's disease (HD) in that they typically produce a combination of chorea, cognitive decline or dementia and behavioural or psychiatric problems.

Other genetic causes of chorea are rare. They include the classical Huntington's disease 'mimic' or phenocopy syndromes, called Huntington's disease-like syndrome types 1, 2 and 3; inherited prion disease, the spinocerebellar ataxias type 1, 3 and 17, neuroacanthocytosis, dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy (DRPLA), brain iron accumulation disorders, Wilson's disease, benign hereditary chorea, Friedreich's ataxia, mitochondrial disease and Rett syndrome.

Pick's disease is a term that can be used in two different ways. It has traditionally been used as a term for a group of neurodegenerative diseases with symptoms attributable to frontal and temporal lobe dysfunction. Common symptoms that are noticed early are personality and emotional changes, as well as deterioration of language. This condition is now more commonly called frontotemporal dementia by professionals, and the use of "Pick's disease" as a clinical diagnosis has fallen out of fashion. The second use of the term (and the one now used among professionals) is to mean a specific pathology that is one of the causes of frontotemporal lobar degeneration. These two uses have previously led to confusion among professionals and patients and so its use should be restricted to the specific pathological subtype described below. It is also known as Pick disease and PiD (not to be confused with pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) or Parkinson's disease (PD)). A defining characteristic of the disease is build-up of tau proteins in neurons, accumulating into silver-staining, spherical aggregations known as "Pick bodies".

Corticobasal degeneration (CBD) or corticobasal ganglionic degeneration (CBGD) is a rare, progressive neurodegenerative disease involving the cerebral cortex and the basal ganglia. CBD symptoms typically begin in people from 50–70 years of age, and the average disease duration is six years. It is characterized by marked disorders in movement and cognitive dysfunction, and is classified as one of the Parkinson plus syndromes. Clinical diagnosis is difficult, as symptoms of CBD are often similar to those of other disorders, such as Parkinson's disease (PD), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Due to the various clinical presentations associated with CBD, a final diagnosis can only be made upon neuropathologic examination.

Tauopathy belongs to a class of neurodegenerative diseases associated with the pathological aggregation of tau protein in neurofibrillary or gliofibrillary tangles in the human brain. Tangles are formed by hyperphosphorylation of a microtubule-associated protein known as tau, causing it to aggregate in an insoluble form. (These aggregations of hyperphosphorylated tau protein are also referred to as paired helical filaments). The precise mechanism of tangle formation is not completely understood, and it is still controversial as to whether tangles are a primary causative factor in the disease or play a more peripheral role. Primary tauopathies, i.e., conditions in which neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) are predominantly observed, include:

- Primary age-related tauopathy (PART)/Neurofibrillary tangle-predominant senile dementia, with NFTs similar to AD, but without plaques.

- Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, including dementia pugilistica

- Progressive supranuclear palsy

- Corticobasal degeneration

- Frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17

- Lytico-Bodig disease (Parkinson-dementia complex of Guam)

- Ganglioglioma and gangliocytoma

- Meningioangiomatosis

- Postencephalitic parkinsonism

- Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis

- As well as lead encephalopathy, tuberous sclerosis, Hallervorden-Spatz disease, and lipofuscinosis

Neurofibrillary tangles were first described by Alois Alzheimer in one of his patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease (AD), which is considered a secondary tauopathy. AD is also classified as an amyloidosis because of the presence of senile plaques.

The degree of NFT involvement in AD is defined by Braak stages. Braak stages I and II are used when NFT involvement is confined mainly to the transentorhinal region of the brain, stages III and IV when there's also involvement of limbic regions such as the hippocampus, and V and VI when there's extensive neocortical involvement. This should not be confused with the degree of senile plaque involvement, which progresses differently.

In both Pick's disease and corticobasal degeneration, tau proteins are deposited as inclusion bodies within swollen or "ballooned" neurons.

Argyrophilic grain disease (AGD), another type of dementia, is marked by an abundance of argyrophilic grains and coiled bodies upon microscopic examination of brain tissue. Some consider it to be a type of Alzheimer's disease. It may co-exist with other tauopathies such as progressive supranuclear palsy and corticobasal degeneration, and also Pick's disease.

Huntington's disease (HD): a neurodegenerative disease caused by a CAG tripled expansion in the Huntington gene is the most recently described tauopathy (Fernandez-Nogales et al. Nat Med 2014). JJ Lucas and co-workers demonstrate that, in brains with HD, tau levels are increased and the 4R/3R balance is altered. In addition, the Lucas study shows intranuclear insoluble deposits of tau; these "Lucas' rods" were also found in brains with Alzheimer's disease.

Tauopathies are often overlapped with synucleinopathies, possibly due to interaction between the synuclein and tau proteins.

The non-Alzheimer's tauopathies are sometimes grouped together as "Pick's complex" due to their association with frontotemporal dementia, or frontotemporal lobar degeneration.

The symptoms of Pick's disease include difficulty in language and thinking, efforts to dissociate from family, behavioral changes, unwarranted anxiety, irrational fears, CBD (Compulsive buying disorder, or oniomania), impaired regulation of social conduct (e.g., breaches of etiquette, vulgar language, tactlessness, , misperception), passivity, low motivation (aboulia), inertia, over-activity, pacing and wandering. It is a characteristic of Pick’s disease that dysfunctional, argumentative, or hostile social conduct is initially exhibited towards family members and not initially exhibited in a workplace or neutral environment. The changes in personality allow doctors to distinguish between Pick's disease and Alzheimer's disease. Pick's disease is one of the causes of the clinical syndrome of frontotemporal lobar degeneration which has three subtypes. Pick's disease pathology is associated more with the frontotemporal dementia and progressive nonfluent aphasia subtypes than the semantic dementia subtype.

The disease is caused by a mutation in the ATXN3 gene, which is located on chromosome 14q. The gene contains lengthy irregular repetitions of the code "CAG", producing a mutated protein called ataxin-3. (Normally, the number of copies is between 13 and 41.) MJD is an autosomal dominant disease, meaning that if either parent gives the defective gene to a child, the child will show symptoms of the disease. Therefore, if one parent suffers from this disease and the other parent does not, there will be a 50% chance of their child inheriting the disease.

The pons (a structure located on the brain stem) is one of the areas affected by MJD. The striatum (a brain area connected to balance and movement) is also affected by this disease, which could explain both of the main motor problems cause by MJD: the tightening and twisting of the limb and the abrupt, irregular movements.

In affected cells, this protein builds up and assembles intranuclear inclusion bodies. These insoluble aggregates are hypothesized to interfere with the normal activity of the nucleus and induce the cell to degenerate and die.

The prevalence and incidence remain unknown but FTDP-17 is an extremely rare condition. It is caused by mutations in the MAPT gene, which encodes a microtubule-binding protein. Over 100 families with 38 different mutations in the tau gene have been identified worldwide. The phenotype of FTDP-17 varies not only between families carrying different mutations but also between and within families carrying the same mutations.

There is currently no effective treatment or cure for PSP, although some of the symptoms can respond to nonspecific measures. The average age at symptoms onset is 63 and survival from onset averages 7 years with a wide variance. Pneumonia is a frequent cause of death.

HDL1 is an unusual, autosomal dominant familial prion disease. Only described in one family, it is caused by an eight-octapeptide repeat insertion in the "PRNP" gene. More broadly, inherited prion diseases in general can mimic HD.

Prevalence data regarding this disorder remains incomplete, however it is estimated that anywhere between 1 in 1,000,000 to 3 in 1,000,000 individuals will be afflicted with this disorder (based upon observed cases in a population), but once again this is only an estimate as the disease is so rare it is difficult to statistically and accurately ascertain.

The prognosis is generally poor. With early onset, death usually occurs within 10 years from the onset of symptoms. Individuals with the infantile form usually die before the age of 7. Usually, the later the disease occurs, the slower its course is.