The annual incidence of Parkinson’s disease among adults aged 65 years and older is 50% higher than previous estimates of 60,000 diagnoses annually, researchers reported in NPJ Parkinson’s Disease.

Parkinson’s disease is the second most common age-related neurodegenerative condition diagnosed in North America, James Beck, PhD, senior vice president and chief scientific officer at the Parkinson’s Foundation, and colleagues wrote.

James Beck

“As it stands now, there is no cure for the disease,” Beck told Healio. “In fact, we do not know what causes Parkinson’s disease — we do not know how it progresses, we do not know how to actually measure or diagnose it and we do not know how to stop it.”

Beck and colleagues used multiple epidemiological data sources to assess the incidence of PD among Americans aged 45 years and older, from five epidemiological cohorts in North America in 2012.

Incidence of PD ranged from 108 to 212 per 100,000 people aged 65 years and older, and from 47 to 77 per 100,000 people aged 45 years and older. Incidence estimates were higher among men in both cohorts.

“The true implication of this study is that it is a real recognition that there are more people who are getting diagnosed and living with Parkinson’s disease than we had realized before,” Beck said.

Prior PD incidence rates were estimated to range between 40,000 and 60,000 cases per year. The new rate is 1.5 times higher, at nearly 90,000 cases annually.

“[The data] underscore the urgency of being able to address Parkinson’s disease at a national level,” Beck said. “We need additional support for research. We need to be able to have more physicians who can care for this increased population of those living with Parkinson’s disease and we need to recognize that there may be ways with which to mitigate who has Parkinson’s disease. Through a concerted effort, I think we can really tackle Parkinson’s and, hopefully, at one point, have a world without Parkinson’s.”

Reference:

New study shows the incidence of Parkinson’s disease in the U.S. is 50% higher than previous estimates. https://www.parkinson.org/about-us/news/incidence-2022. Published Dec. 15, 2022. Accessed Dec. 15, 2022.