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Recent information on Parkinsons disease - statistics on what predisposes a person to the illness

Perhaps the best known piece of information on Parkinsons disease is that it mostly affects older people. While this is largely true, it is not the whole story. There are hereditary and risk factors other than age involved.

Let's examine some Parkinsons disease statistics to see what it reveals.

In line with popular perceptions, around 90% of Parkinson's sufferers are over age 60. This continues to hold even for the age at which symptoms are first diagnosed. Less than 10% of initial diagnoses of the illness are in adults below age 40.

Let's dig deeper, though.

As you might expect, the risk of developing the disease increases from ages 60 to 75. However, after age 75, the risk drops off significantly.

From a statistical point of view, a person of age 80 is much less likely to develop the illness than someone who's 70 years old. For most people, this can be a surprising bit of information on Parkinsons disease.

Here's a different take on it. The term Parkinsonism means symptoms of this disease that are actually due to other reasons. It also means symptoms that may develop into Parkinson's disease at a later stage.

Now, if you consider Parkinsonism rather than only the disease itself, then an amazingly high 15% of the population between ages 60 and 75 have it. And if in the 75 to 84 age group, fully 30% have it.

So age is certainly one factor that's involved in the condition. What about other factors in early onset Parkinsons?

Another obvious one is gender. Males tend to be twice as likely to develop the disease as females, across all age groups.

Recent research indicates that estrogen, the female hormone, may be responsible for protecting women. A couple of facts lend support to this theory.

One, women who have had hysterectomies have a greater incidence of the illness. Second, those women who are on hormone replacement therapy also have lowered risk of Parkinson's. Both facts point to estrogen as the preventive factor.

What about heredity? It does play a role. If a sibling developed Parkinson's before age 40, you are at greater risk of the disease. This does not seem to apply if a sibling develops the disease in later years. In that case, there is no higher risk to other siblings.

And ethnicity? Caucasians seem to have the greatest risk of getting this condition. The incidence is lower among African Americans or Asian Americans. But there are indications that although these other races have lower risk overall, they may face greater risk of developing other types of Parkinsonism, including problems with thinking.

Some studies show that caffeine offers a degree of protection against Parkinson's. Coffee consumption, it appears, can be a preventive measure.

While current research does provide some information on Parkinsons disease, there are lots of gaps still. Parkinsons disease statistics are still evolving and we may get fresh insights in coming years.

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