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Thank you, Jim! A fistful of good information to this audience. When there were 500 individuals 100 years of age or more in Japan, the nation began to honor them all with a silver bowl each, I learned. Now that the number has gone up many fold, the government is forced to make smaller bowls. I heard that there are 500 individuals 100 years of age or more in Finland. (I do not know if Finland will invent a gift of sorts...) With my second question, I had these individuals in mind and with advances in medicine, the number is climbing. Based on you response I may guess that the studies do not include very old individuals over 100 years. Can you mention something about the gender distribution? (In my area, gender is what we are, sex is what we do!) Men have traditionally been talked about more but I guess now that women get it as often. What is the relationship of menopause with PD in your mind? I was also wondering how epi is 'coping' with the changing diagnoses... PD is really a group of diseases and new ones are emerging. There is more than one genetically determined condition typical for Finland alone. I suppose the use of the entire population has to do with comparisons with other disease distributions, for one. When you talk about statistical relevance, you mean at the general discussion level, don't you? Not at the level of testing small samples and using the exact test? I missed PWP--what did you mean by it? Ansa Ojanlatva, PhD, CHES (ret.) Docent, Health and Sexuality Education Authorized Sexuality Educator and Sexual Health Promotor (NACS), Authorized in Sexual Science (NACS) Sanitas 3rd floor Lemminkäisenkatu 1 20014 University of Turku, Finland mobile +358-400-823 816 tel +358-2-333 8515 fax +358-2-333 8439 Please use the mobile phone number for calling. ----- Original Message ----- From: Jim Slattery <[log in to unmask]> Date: Tuesday, April 7, 2009 11:16 am Subject: PD prevalence To: [log in to unmask] > From: "Ansa Ojanlatva" <[log in to unmask]> > > A second question, perhaps more along the lines of your personal > expertise, has to do with epidemiology itself. I recently saw a > mention somewhere that there is no PD in really old people... > > The following excerpts may give some idea of the problems in compiling > prevalence and incidence data - > > "There are virtually no accurate figures of incidence and prevalence > of PD, and worldwide estimates vary from 1:1000 to 2:1000, with this > figure increasing for those over 65 to 1:100 and 4:100 in the over-70 > population. A survey carried out in South Australia in 1985 resulted > in a figure of 2300 people in South Australia, which would translate > to an incidence of 1.6:1000. This could mean that about 25,000 people > in Australia have PD." www.mydr.com.au > > "A prevalence study of Parkinson's disease (PD) was conducted in the > rural town of Nambour, Australia. There were 5 cases of PD in a study > population of 1207, yielding a crude prevalence ratio of 414 per > 100,000 (95% confidence interval)." The epidemiology of Parkinson's > disease in an Australian population. Neuroepidemiology, 17 : 310-317. > > > "The prevalence of idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD) in Australia > is unclear. We estimated the prevalence of IPD, and other forms of > parkinsonism, through the study of typical caseloads in general > practice. A random sample of general practitioners (GPs) throughout > Queensland (401 responses from 528 validated practice addresses) was > asked to estimate the numbers of patients with IPD and parkinsonism > seen in the preceding year. The estimated prevalence of diagnosed IPD > in Queensland was 146 per 100 000 (95% CI = 136-155). A further 51 per > 100 000 in the population were suspected by doctors to have IPD > without formal diagnosis, whereas another 51 per 100 000 people may > have non-idiopathic parkinsonism. Idiopathic Parkinson's disease was > more common in rural than metropolitan areas. Although most GPs were > confident in making diagnoses of IPD, the majority had little or no > confidence in their ability to treat the disease, especially in its > later stages. Support from neurologists was pe > Prevalence of Parkinson's disease in metropolitan and rural > Queensland: A general practice survey. Journal of Clinical > Neuroscience, 13 3: 343-348. > > Questions I ask myself > 1. Why is prevalence estimated against the entire population, if only > the elderly are susceptible? > 2. What is the statistical relevance if any, of very small data sets? > 3. Why does data not include PWP being treated by neurologists. (Our > research indicates that many GP's are unaware that their patients have > PD, especially if visits to a (new) GP postdate the diagnosis of PD. > > And on and on.... > > Our research showed patients as young as the 15-19 quintile, and as > old as the 95-99 quintile. > Our research methodology was estimated by Federal Statisticians from > the Health Insurance Commission to have trapped 87.2% of all PWP in > Australia. Using algorithms developed excusively between our research > team and these statisticians, we were able to identify individuals > with PD, although for reasons of privacy, the data seta relayed to us > did not include data which would identify individuals. The uniqueness > of individuals only emabled us to identify the total of patients > within geographically defined areas. > > But the major aspect of our research was the comparison of the data on > PWP's against equivalent census date for the same defined areas, in > the same time periods. This, to the best of my knowledge, is the first > study to do so. > > I am unable at this time to give more detailed data, as I and my wife > are in respite care at a nursing home, and I have only my laptop with > me, and it does not have my research data on it. > > Dr. J. F. Slattery PhD Soc Sc > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn