title: Prevalence of stroke in Parkinson's disease: a postmortem study.
abstract: The results of previous epidemiological studies of the relationship between Parkinson's disease and stroke have been conflicting; some showing a reduced risk of ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke during life, and others indicating an increased likelihood of stroke-related death. We compared the frequency of cerebral infarcts and haemorrhages at postmortem in 100 cases of pathologically verified idiopathic Parkinson's disease and 100 age-matched control brains. No significant differences were found in the numbers of infarcts or haemorrhages or stroke-related deaths between the two groups. Our findings do not indicate either a protective effect against stroke, or a greater susceptibility to death from stroke, in the population studied.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Neuromuscular and Neurological Disorders, Australian Neuromuscular Research Institute, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia. flmast@cyllene.uwa.edu.au
authors.forename: Frank L
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Mastaglia
authors.forename: Russell D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Johnsen
authors.forename: Byron A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Kakulas
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001315:Australia; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D002423:Cause of Death; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D012016:Reference Values; D020521:Stroke / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*