title: Mortality in Parkinson's disease: a 38-year follow-up study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In this study we report on the outcome including overall and cause-specific mortality of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients subsequent to 38 years of surveillance. This is an extension study of our previous report on mortality.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred thirty-seven patients with a symptom onset between 1974 and 1984 were followed until the date of December 31, 2012 or death, representing a follow-up period of up to 38 years. Overall and cause-specific standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated, and predictors for survival at disease onset were estimated.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Two hundred thirty patients had died by December 31, 2012; a total of 3,489 person-years were available for observation. The SMR at 38 years of follow-up was 2.02 (1.76-2.29). Employing Cox's proportional hazard modeling, male sex, gait disorder, absence of classical rest tremor, and absence of asymmetry predicted poor survival in this cohort. Increased cause-specific SMRs were found for pneumonia and cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department for Neurology, Medical University Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Bernadette
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pinter
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Diem-Zangerl
authors.forename: Gregor Karl
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Wenning
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Scherfler
authors.forename: Willi
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Oberaigner
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Seppi
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Poewe
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality; D002423:Cause of Death; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000401:mortality*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012737:Sex Factors; D014202:Tremor / Q000401:mortality*
keywords: Parkinson's disease; SMR; cause-specific mortality; late stage; mortality