title: Incidence of Parkinson's disease: variation by age, gender, and race/ethnicity.
abstract: The goal of this study was to estimate the incidence of Parkinson's disease by age, gender, and ethnicity. Newly diagnosed Parkinson's disease cases in 1994-1995 were identified among members of the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program of Northern California, a large health maintenance organization. Each case met modified standardized criteria/Hughes diagnostic criteria as applied by a movement disorder specialist. Incidence rates per 100,000 person-years were calculated using the Kaiser Permanente membership information as the denominator and adjusted for age and/or gender using the direct method of standardization. A total of 588 newly diagnosed (incident) cases of Parkinson's disease were identified, which gave an overall annualized age- and gender-adjusted incidence rate of 13.4 per 100,000 (95% confidence interval (CI): 11.4, 15.5). The incidence rapidly increased over the age of 60 years, with only 4% of the cases being under the age of 50 years. The rate for men (19.0 per 100,000, 95% CI: 16.1, 21.8) was 91% higher than that for women (9.9 per 100,000, 95% CI: 7.6, 12.2). The age- and gender-adjusted rate per 100,000 was highest among Hispanics (16.6, 95% CI: 12.0, 21.3), followed by non-Hispanic Whites (13.6, 95% CI: 11.5, 15.7), Asians (11.3, 95% CI: 7.2, 15.3), and Blacks (10.2, 95% CI: 6.4, 14.0). These data suggest that the incidence of Parkinson's disease varies by race/ethnicity.
authors.affiliation: Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente, Oakland, CA 94612, USA. skv@dor.kaiser.org
authors.forename: Stephen K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Van Den Eeden
authors.forename: Caroline M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Tanner
authors.forename: Allan L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Bernstein
authors.forename: Robin D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Fross
authors.forename: Amethyst
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leimpeter
authors.forename: Daniel A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Bloch
authors.forename: Lorene M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Nelson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D044469:Racial Groups