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Now there's another reason to go to the doctor if you're feeling down: depression more than triples the risk of Parkinson's disease. 

After comparing 140,688 people who were diagnosed with depression from 1987 to 2012 to  421,718 control participants, researchers discovered a link between depression and Parkinson's disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that seriously hinders movement. All participants were l Swedish citizens age 50 and older at the end of 2005, and depressed participants were diagnosed with depression from 1987 to 2012. Researchers noted that participants were followed up for 26 years.

However, further data analysis revealed no evidence of one sibling having depression and another having Parkinson's disease.

"This finding gives us more evidence that these two diseases are linked," said Nordström. "If the diseases were independent of each other but caused by the same genetic or early environmental factors, then we would expect to see the two diseases group together in siblings, but that didn't happen."

The findings revealed that depressed participants were 3.2 times more likely to develop Parkinson's disease within a year after the study compared participants in the control group. However, the risk of developing Parkinson's disease decreased over time. The study revealed that after 15 to 25 years, people with depression were 50 percent more likely to develop the neurological disorder.

Previous studies revealed that traumatic brain injury, stroke and alcohol and drug abuse can also increase the risk of Parkinson's. 

The findings were published in the May 20, 2015, online issue of Neurology.