You seem as surprised as I was, but in reading the General Mortality
Rates, I did discover that  people do die and have the cause of
death listed as PD.  When I found those Obits. in Newspaper &
Periodical abstracts, I rather dismissed them.  But how can one
dismiss the" General Mortality Rates of the Vital Statistics of the
United States."  BTW it is published by the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services-Public Health Service-Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention and the National Center for Health Statistics.
These books are available for use by the public, free of charge, at
any library who has a Government Depository Collection.
I did make one error in typing, "Numbers after causes of death are
category numbers of the Ninth Revision International Classification of
Diseases, 1975"  Not 1995 as I typed--Sorry!

If in 1991, 7,455 Doctors in the U.S. turned in the cause of death as PD,
Then I think, we as PWP, need to rethink this whole thing.  Especailly
when everyone says "Well, at least its not fatal"  I'm the world's worst
about saying that myself!!!!!!!
It certainly was fatal to 7,455 persons in 1991.

I will give the whole citation, so it will be easier for you to look up.
Vital Statistics of the United States,1991, Volume II-Mortality Part A,
Section 1-General Mortality-Page 230--Table 1-24. Deaths from 282
Selected Causes, by Month: United States, 1991-Con. (page 3 of 6)

As Ever,
Marjorie Moorefield
just another librarian
(with PD)











>In response to the latest reply - I would be very interested in knowing the
>validity of those statistics & obits - as far as I have researched - no one
>DIES from PD - itself.  I understood PD was like AIDS - you cannot die from
>AIDS - but rather from the illness you acquire as a result of the less than
>adequate immune system.  Am I wrong?
>
>Christine Anne Sutter
>[log in to unmask]
>Hilton Head Island, SC, USA
>
>
>>>Marjorie and others,
>>>
>>>We all would be very happy to know the cause of PD. Till that time every
>>>treatment is more or less a mere trial because whatever causes our disease
>>>has not disappeared. Epidemological research is done in the past. I have a
>>>sort of abstract from 1982. One in seven patients start between 30 and 40
>>>years of age. PD exists everywhere in it seems about the same percentage
>>>with an exception for black Americans and South-Africans which seem to be a
>>>little less susceptible. The only "environmental" factor that is found
>>>consistently is : Smokers have much less chance to become a parkie than not
>>>smokers (I never smoked and sometimes this story can be a comfort for
>>>people whose nicotine addiction is to strong to let them stop.)
>>>Now a tendency is reported: sometimes people in the countryside should be a
>>>little more prone than people in the city.
>>>Combining this two things I can not help getting the suspicion that the
>>>fumes of the city are protecting.
>>>Parkinson himself, who for the first time described the disease, did so in
>>>1817.
>>>If Parkinson can be caused by modern pollution this can't be the only
>>>responsible faktor.
>>>
>>>                                    Ida Kamphuis
>>>                                       Holland
>>
>>Ida and all,
>>
>>I went to work at the library early one morning last week so I could
>>start doing some research on PD.  After talking to the Government
>>Document Librarian for sometime, we decided to start our search
>>in the United States, with "Vital Statistics of the United States-1991-
>>Volume II-Mortality-Part A"
>>
>>After the reference interview, I didn't have too much time to search, but
>>I did make a copy of the General Mortality Rates.
>>Believe it or not PD has a classification, its #332, this is from the 9th.
>>revised International Classification of Diseases, 1995.
>>In 1991, in the UNITED STATES only--there are 7,455 registered deaths
>>for Parkinson's Disease.  This "Vital Statistics of the United States"
>>is always 5 years behind.  The 1992 Edition, with statistics, will be out
>>after the first of 1997.
>>
>>I think, at least in the U.S. we should stop saying this is not a fatal
>>disease!!!!
>>It certainly was for those 7,455 poor souls.
>>
>>When I have more time I'm going to go back up to the 5th. floor (Govt.Docs)
>>and try to go back at least 5 years.  There is so much information in these
>>books that a person could spend weeks reading them, unfortunately, they
>>cannot be checked out!!!!!  Even by another librarian.  Also, when I ran
>>the word "Parkinson's Disease" through the Newspaper and Periodical
>>Abstracts ,I found over 81 obituaries listed saying this person had died
>>with Parkinson's Disease.
>>
>>I have really gotten into research on this disease now, and will let you
>>know what I find out.  We all really appreciate your posts. Please
>>keep in touch.
>>
>>As Ever,
>>Marjorie Moorefield
>>just another librarian
>>(with PD)
>>
>>
>
>