De prevalentie van parkinsonisme en de ziekte van Parkinson bij ouderen; het ERGO-onderzoek

To assess the prevalence of parkinsonism and Parkinson's disease in a general population aged 55 years and over.

Design

Population-based cross-sectional study.

Setting

Ommoord, a suburb of Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Methods

As part of the ‘Rotterdam study’, of 6969 persons aged 55 years and over, those who showed at least one possible cardinal sign for parkinsonism at the neurological screening examination, and those who reported having Parkinson's disease or were taking antiparkinsonian drugs were invited for further evaluation.

Results

The crude prevalence estimates of all types of parkinsonism, and of Parkinson's disease in this population was 1.9 (1.6 for men; 2.0 for women) and 1.4 (1.2 for men; 1.5 for women), respectively. The prevalence in 10-year age categories from 55 years to 95 years ranged from 0.4 to 5.9 for all types of parkinsonism, and from 0.3 to 4.3 for Parkinson's disease. Twelve percent of the subjects with Parkinson's disease were newly diagnosed during this investigation.

Conclusion

The prevalence of Parkinson's disease and parkinsonism was higher in higher age categories and still increased even in the highest age categories.