After reading about this two-part article on this list, I obtained a copy
of it from the Health Sciences Library at McMaster University. I haven't
read it through completely and, to be honest, I'd need a very good
medical dictionary (and possibly an interpreter) to understand a lot of
it but in the first two paragraphs there were three items of
interest/news to me. I have included them along with the references
connected to them and the reference for the article itself. Copyright
laws forbid reproducing the article completely but it would be well worth
it to obtain a copy or at least give your health care providers the
reference for it.
Lang, A. E. & Lozano, A. M. Medical progress: Parkinson's disease.
First of two parts. New England Journal of Medicine, 1998; 339:1044-1063.
"Age is the single most consistent risk factor and with the increasing
age of the general population, the prevalence of Parkinson's Disease will
rise steadily in the future. The impact of the disease is indicated by
the fact that mortality is two to five times as high among affected
persons as among age-matched controls resulting in a marked reduction in
life expectancy." (Page 1044)
References:
Bennett, D.A., Beckett, L.A., Murray, A.M. et al. Prevalence of
parkinsonian signs and associated mortality in a community population of
older people. N Eng Jmed 1996; 334:71-6.
Morens, D. A. M., Davis, J.W., Grandinetti, A., Ross, G. W., Popper, J.
S., White, L.G. Epidemiologic observations on Parkinson's disease:
incidence and mortality in a prospective study of middle-aged men.
Neurology 1996; 46:1044-50.
Louis, E.D., Marder, K., Cote, L., Tang, M., Mayeux, R. Mortality from
Parkinson's disease. Arch Neurol 1997;54:260-4.
""...neurodegenerative diseases (Parkinson's disease, motor neuron
disease, and dementia) are projected to surpass cancer as the second most
common cause of death among the elderly by the year 2040." (Page 1044)
Reference:
Lilienfeld, D. E., Perl, D. P. Projected neurodegenerative disease
mortality in the United States, 1990-2040. Neuroepidemiology 1993;
12:219-28.
"Underdiagnosis is common; in recent door-to-door studies, up to 24
percent of cases were newly detected at the time of the survey." (Page 1044)
De Rijk, M.C., Tzouri, C., Breteler, M.M.B., et al. Prevalence of
parkinsonism and Parkinson's disease in Europe: The EUROPARKINSON
Collaborative Study. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1997;62:10-5.
===========================================================================
Barbara Patterson [log in to unmask]
HSC 2J22 905-525-9140, ext. 22403
School of Nursing
===========================================================================
