Christine Anne Sutter wrote:
>
> 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)
> >

Cristine,

My cousin and uncle(one of his 3 sons) had their PD progressed to a
level that caused their deaths.They reached both a age around the 80.

REgards,

   +----| Joao Paulo de Carvalho   |------ +
   |         [log in to unmask]     |
   +--------| Salvador-Bahia-Brazil |------+