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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) > >