 |
 |
Hello, On 4 May 00, at 8:01, (I'm a little behind) Judith Richards posted: > WESTPORT, May 4, 2000 (Reuters Health) - Even if their symptoms > are treated successfully with levodopa, patients with Parkinson's > disease have a shorter life span compared with the general > population, Italian researchers report in the April issue of the > Archives of Neurology. > > Dr. Giovanni Savettieri, of the University of Palermo, and > colleagues identified cases and controls by conducting a > door-to-door survey in three Sicilian cities. They compared the > survival of 59 Parkinson's disease patients with that of 118 > controls. In addition, the researchers compared the causes of death > for each group. .... > Dr. Savettieri and colleagues found that the primary cause of death for > both groups was cardiovascular disease. However, "pneumonia was the > cause of death significantly associated with Parkinson's disease." .... I think that the risk of pneumonia to us PWPs has not been sufficiently emphasized. I searched Medline for references to PD and pneumonia and found abstracts (see below) of several studies of PWP groups in the US, Japan and Australia in which pneumonia was the number 1 cause of death. Among non-PWPs in the US, pneumonia is the 5th leading cause of death for people 65 and over. The reason for the high risk of fatal pneumonia to PWPs is that some of the precipitating conditions, such as aspiration (taking food or fluid down the windpipe) and immobility, are much more frequent among older people with advanced PD. PWPs also tend to be shallow breathers, which I think is also a contributing factor. There is now a vaccine for pneumococcal pneumonia, which is the most common and fatal type of pneumonia, and it's a good idea for all of us to get a shot. More information about immunization is available from: http://www.nih.gov/nia/health/pubpub/pneum.htm The PD/pneumonia studies: J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1999 Sep;67(3):300-7. The sydney multicentre study of Parkinson's disease: progression and mortality at 10 years. Hely MA, Morris JG, Traficante R, Reid WG, O'Sullivan DJ, Williamson PM. Medline PMID: 10449550, UI: 99380423. J Am Geriatr Soc 1999 Aug;47(8):967-72. Postoperative complications in Parkinson's disease. Pepper PV, Goldstein MK. PMID: 10443858, UI: 99371458. Eur Neurol 1997;38 Suppl 2:60-3. Prognosis of Parkinson's disease in Japan. Tottori University Parkinson's Disease Epidemiology (TUPDE) Study Group. Nakashima K, Maeda M, Tabata M, Adachi Y, Kusumi M, Ohshiro H. PMID: 9387805, UI: 98046998. Neurology 1994 Oct;44(10):1865-8. Parkinson's disease and its comorbid disorders: an analysis of Michigan mortality data, 1970 to 1990. Gorell JM, Johnson CC, Rybicki BA. PMID: 7936238, UI: 95022201. Phil Tompkins Amherst, Mass age 62/dx 1990