title: Screening for undiagnosed parkinsonism in people aged 65 years and over in the community.
abstract: We screened a random sample of 2449 people aged 65 years and over for undiagnosed parkinsonism, using a postal screening questionnaire followed by clinical neurological assessment. Amongst the 1556 (63.5%) patients who responded, four patients with previously undiagnosed parkinsonism were identified, suggesting a prevalence of 257 per 100,000 (95% CI 70, 658) in this age-group. Although only small, the numbers were sufficient to significantly increase the incidence of parkinsonism in an incidence study. Two simple screening questions achieved a high sensitivity for newly diagnosed parkinsonism of 95%, but a low specificity of 28%.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, University of Aberdeen, Polwarth Building, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, UK.
authors.forename: K S M
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Counsell
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Gordon
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged / Q000502:physiology*; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life; D012372:ROC Curve; D018401:Sample Size; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology