Incidence and distribution of parkinsonism in Olmsted County, Minnesota, 1976-1990. OBJECTIVE: Limited information is available on the frequency and distribution of parkinsonism as a syndrome. We studied the incidence of parkinsonism and its specific types among residents of Olmsted County, MN, for the period from 1976 through 1990. METHODS: We used the medical records linkage-system of the Rochester Epidemiology Project to identify all individuals whose records contained documentation of any form of parkinsonism, related neurodegenerative diseases, or tremor of any type. A nurse abstractor screened the records, and, when applicable, a neurologist reviewed them to determine the presence of parkinsonism using specified diagnostic criteria and to define the year of onset. RESULTS: We found: 364 incident cases of parkinsonism: 154 with PD (42%), 72 with drug-induced parkinsonism (20%), 61 unspecified (17%), 51 with parkinsonism in dementia (14%), and 26 with other causes (7%). The average annual incidence rate of parkinsonism (per 100,000 person-years) in the age group 50 to 99 years was 114.7; incidence increased steeply with age from 0.8 in the age group 0 to 29 years to 304.8 in the age group 80 to 99 years. The cumulative incidence of parkinsonism assuming no competing causes of death was 7.5% to age 90 years. PD was the most common type of parkinsonism, followed by parkinsonism in dementia in men and drug-induced parkinsonism in women. Men had higher incidence than women at all ages for all types of parkinsonism except drug-induced. CONCLUSIONS: Parkinsonism is a common disease among the elderly; its incidence increases steeply with advancing age and is consistently higher in men. The distribution by type changes with age and gender. Neurology 1999 Apr 12;52(6):1214-20 Bower JH, Maraganore DM, McDonnell SK, Rocca WA Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. PMID: 10214746, UI: 99229559 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/ janet paterson 52 now / 41 dx / 37 onset PO Box 171 Almonte Ontario K0A 1A0 Canada a new voice <http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Village/6263/> [log in to unmask]