title: Epidemiology of Parkinson's disease.
abstract: The causes of Parkinson's disease (PD), the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, are still largely unknown. Current thinking is that major gene mutations cause only a small proportion of all cases and that in most cases, non-genetic factors play a part, probably in interaction with susceptibility genes. Numerous epidemiological studies have been done to identify such non-genetic risk factors, but most were small and methodologically limited. Larger, well-designed prospective cohort studies have only recently reached a stage at which they have enough incident patients and person-years of follow-up to investigate possible risk factors and their interactions. In this article, we review what is known about the prevalence, incidence, risk factors, and prognosis of PD from epidemiological studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Erasmus Medical Centre Rotterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Lonneke M L
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: de Lau
authors.forename: Monique M B
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Breteler
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D006801:Humans; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors