FYI from AP Wire Services
 
(btw, does anyone know the legality of forwarding this copright material
onto what I assume is a "not-for-profit" list?)
 
Rich Thompson
 
 
>Signs Of Parkinson's Common
>06:02 PM Yesterday
>Category:   Domestic   Keywords:   Parkinson's
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>^*1500< ^AP-Parkinson's<,0425<
>^Signs Of Parkinson's Common<<
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>     BOSTON (AP) _ Symptoms similar to those of Parkinson's disease
>have been found to be surprisingly common among older Americans,
>afflicting perhaps one in five people over 65.
>
>     Researchers also found that people with these typical signs _
>shuffling walk, tremors, rigid movements and extreme slowness _
>face an unusually high risk of death, even if they have not been
>officially diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
>
>     ``It suggests these signs are important, and we need to pay
>attention to them,'' said Dr. David A. Bennett, principal author of
>a study published in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of
>Medicine.
>
>     These symptoms are known as parkinsonism. While clearly not
>rare, there have been few carefully conducted studies to see just
>how common they are in the general population.
>
>     Besides Parkinson's disease, the symptoms can be caused by
>Alzheimer's disease, small strokes and a variety of other less
>common illnesses.
>
>     In the latest study, the researchers did not attempt to pinpoint
>the underlying disease of the elderly people's shuffling and other
>difficulties. While some of the symptoms almost certainly resulted
>from undiagnosed Parkinson's disease, other health problems also
>probably contributed.
>
>     The researchers studied 467 elderly residents of East Boston, a
>largely Italian-American, working-class neighborhood. The
>researchers found that 159 had parkinsonism. Of these, 15 had been
>told by their doctors they have Parkinson's disease.
>
>     The risk of parkinsonism rose sharply as people got older. Over
>85, half of the people studied had these symptoms.
>
>     During nine years of follow-up, the researchers found that the
>risk of death was twice as high among the elderly people with
>parkinsonism.
>
>     Dr. Robert Feldman of Boston University School of Medicine said
>the frequency of the symptoms among the elderly people studied was
>surprisingly high.
>
>     ``These findings are very important because the hazards these
>people experience as a result of these impairments put them at high
>risk of falls and choking,'' he said.
>
>     Bennett, a physician at the Rush Institute on Aging in Chicago,
>said another study being conducted on Chicago's South Side will
>attempt to learn more precisely how many elderly people have
>Parkinson's disease.
>
>     Parkinson's disease results from destruction of cells within the
>brain that make the chemical dopamine. About 50,000 new cases are
>diagnosed yearly in the United States.
>
>     AP-NY-01-10-96 1702EST<
>
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>END OF FILE-> WIREREADY NEWSWIRE SYSTEMS INC.
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