title: Geographical variation of medicated parkinsonism in Finland during 1995 to 2000.
abstract: We performed a nation-wide study on geographical variation in the incidence and prevalence of medicated parkinsonism among the Finns aged > or =30 years using Bayesian spatial conditional autoregressive models. Registry of reimbursed medication for parkinsonism and a prescription database of purchase of these drugs were used to identify the study subjects. They were located by the map coordinates of the place of residence and aggregated into regular 100 km(2) grid cells. A total of 7,190 incident and 10,616 prevalent cases were found. The age-adjusted annual incidence was 32.6/100,000 (95% HDR 31.8-33.4) during the years 1995 to 2000 and prevalence was 268/100,000 (95% HDR 263-274) in 2000. The male to female ratio was 1.45 (95% HDR 1.39-1.51) in incidence and 1.54 (95% HDR 1.47-1.61) in prevalence. There was strong evidence for geographic variation in incidence and prevalence. A zone with high incidence and prevalence was identified in the eastern and central part of Finland. There was no evidence for difference in incidence and prevalence between urban and rural areas. The marked (more than two-fold) geographic variation can hardly be caused solely by practices of the registration and collection of data on diagnosis or by methodological issues, but rather suggests to geographic variation in protective and predisposing factors of Parkinsonism in Finland.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland.|Department of Biomedical Engineering and Computational Science, Helsinki University of Technology, Espoo, Finland.
authors.forename: Aki S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Havulinna
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Pentti J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Tienari
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Reijo J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Marttila
authors.affiliation: The Finnish Parkinson Association and Foundation, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Kirsti K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Martikainen
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland.|Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Johan G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Eriksson
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Olli
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Taskinen
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Moltchanova
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Marjatta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karvonen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000978:Antiparkinson Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002391:Catchment Area, Health; D004358:Drug Therapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020734:Parkinsonian Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012042:Registries; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D000978:Antiparkinson Agents