Parkinson's Disease - Prevalence

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a disorder of the brain that causes a variety of movement problems, including shaking (tremor), difficulty walking, muscle stiffness or aching, slowness of movement, small handwriting and decreased facial expression. Movement and coordination in the human body are controlled in part by a chemical in your brain called dopamine. In PD, dopamine-producing nerve cells are damaged, gradually reducing dopamine levels in the parts of the brain thought to control movement. Without dopamine, the brain doesn't send signals to the muscles so that they can function properly. The cause of PD is still unknown. Many researchers believe PD may be caused by a combination of genetic factors and environmental factors, such as exposure to certain toxins.

Europe

Accurate information on the epidemiology of PD is critical to inform health policy. An aging population will lead to more patients with PD; thus, the high financial burden PD places on society will increase. In 2005 a systematic literature search was performed (Campenhausen et al. 2005) to identify studies on the prevalence (total number of cases of the disease in the population at a given time) and incidence (the risk of developing some new condition within a specified period of time) of PD in various European countries. Crude prevalence rate estimates ranged from 65.6 per 100,000 up to 12,500 per 100,000 and annual incidence estimates ranged from 5 per 100,000 to 346 per 100,000. In an earlier study (De Rijk et al. 2000) an overall prevalence in Europeans, 65 years of age and older, was 180 per 100,000 (with an increase from 60 for those age 65 to 69 years to > 260 per 100,000 for those 85 to 89 years). No sex differences have been reported in prevalence of PD.

The observed variations in prevalence and incidence rates may result from environmental or genetic factors, but might also be a consequence of differences in methodologies for case ascertainment, diagnostic criteria, or age distributions of the study populations. The comparability of existing studies is limited.

USA

• Prevalence of Parkinson's Disease: 1 million people
• Prevalence Rate: approx 1 in 272 or 0.37% or 1 million people
• Undiagnosed prevalence of Parkinson's Disease: estimated 3-4 million people
• Undiagnosed prevalence rate: approx 1 in 90 or 1.10% or 3 million people
• Death rate extrapolations for Parkinson's Disease: 14,593 per year, 1,216 per month, 280 per week, 39 per day, 1 per hour