The prevalence of Parkinson’s disease ontinues to rise after 80 years of age: a cross-sectional study of Chinese veterans

Y.-M. Zou, J.-P. Tan, N. Li, J.-S. Yang, B.-C. Yu, J.-M. Yu, W. Du, W.-J. Zhang, L.-Q. Cui, Q.-S. Wang, X.-N. Xia, J.-J. Li, P.-Y. Zhou, B.-H. Zhang, Z.-Y. Liu, S.-G. Zhang, L.-Y. Sun, N. Liu, R.-X. Deng, L.-H. Ma, W.-J. Chen, Y.-Q. Zhang, J. Liu, S.-M. Zhang, X.-Y. Lan, Y.-M. Zhao, L.-N. Wang

Department of Geriatric Neurology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China Medical School, Nan Kai University, TianJin, China. wangluning301@163.com

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• Neurology

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine whether the prevalence of Parkinson’s disease (PD) continues to rise after 80 years of age.

METHODS: This is a two-stage, multi-center, cross-sectional study using a stratified cluster sampling approach was employed. Subjects included veterans at ≥ 60 years of age living in veterans’ communities for at least one month in 18 major cities across China. In the first step, possible PD was screened using a PD screening scale. Demographic and relevant information were collected. In the second step, PD diagnosis was established using the United Kingdom Parkinson’s Disease Society Brain Bank (UKPDSBB) diagnostic criteria.

RESULTS: The study was conducted during the period from December 2009 to December 2012. The study included 277 veterans’ communities. Among the approached 11,593 subjects, 9676 subjects, (9096 men, 580 women) responded. The response rate was 83.46%.The age was ≥ 80 years in 6722 (69.47%) subjects. A diagnosis of PD was established in 228 subjects (2.36%) in the entire sample. The rate of PD was 2.65% in those with an age of ≥ 80 years. The rate of PD increased with increasing age (0%, 1.84%, 2.60% and 3.68% in the subjects at < 70, 70-79, 80-89 and ≥ 90 years of age, respectively; χ2 = 10.891, p = 0.001 in chi-square test). The rate of PD was higher in men (2.44%) than in women (1.46%) on the surface. However, no significant difference was detected (p = 0.241).

CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of PD continues to increase beyond the age of 80 years. The prevalence of PD in Chinese veterans is not lower than that in other countries and regions.

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