Dear Ray 

Could this high prevalence of PD be due to genetic factor such as cousin marriage? I heard that cousin marriage is legal in some parts of the US.

Dr Chew

> Date: Sat, 1 Aug 2009 09:53:01 -0700
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Amish got PD
> To: [log in to unmask]
> 
> 
>  from Viartis:
> 
> 1st August 2009 - New research
> THE WORLD'S HIGHEST PREVALENCE OF PARKINSON'S DISEASE
> Neuroepidemiology [2009] 33 (3) : 225-230 (Racette BA, Good LM, Kissel AM, 
> Criswell SR, Perlmutter JS.) Complete abstract
> 
> The world's highest prevalence of Parkinson's Disease by far has been found 
> among the Amish religious community, where Parkinson's Disease is two to 
> three times more prevalent than anywhere else in the world.
> The Amish are primarily in the North East of the U.S.A. They are a devoutly 
> religious community who believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible. 
> They segregate themselves from other communities, wear traditional clothes, 
> and live a traditional lifestyle that does not permit the use of 
> electricity, television, radio, or telephones. For transport they use horses 
> and carriages instead of cars, which they are not allowed to use. Most speak 
> a German dialect known as Pennsylvania Dutch. For more information click 
> here and here, and for a brief video of their lifestyle click here.
> 
> The prevalence of Parkinson's Disease amongst the Amish aged 60 or older has 
> been found to be 5,703 per 100,000, which is enormously high. According to 
> U.N.Data, 17% of the U.S. population is aged 60 or older. So the prevalence 
> of Parkinson's Disease in the Amish community as a whole is  970 per 
> 100,000. This is by far the highest prevalence of Parkinson's Disease in the 
> world, and around three times the prevalence of the U.S.A., despite the 
> U.S.A having the highest prevalence of any country. For more information go 
> to the Prevalence of Parkinson's Disease. The Amish refuse to take out 
> health insurance. They are also afflicted by genetic disorders. So it was 
> thought that the cause might be genetic. However, the more closely related 
> they were, the less they were affected. They are primarily involved in 
> agriculture, and most of them use pesticides, but the effect of pesticides 
> was not assessed by the researchers. In order to refer to this article on 
> its own click here.
> 
> Rayilyn Brown
> Director AZNPF
> Arizona Chapter National Parkinson Foundation
> [log in to unmask] 
> 
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