Mortality and Parkinson disease: A community based study

Abstract

Objective: To compare the mortality of a community-based cohort of patients with carefully diagnosed Parkinson disease (PD) with the mortality in an age-matched population from the same study area and to investigate the possible influence of clinical features and diagnostic accuracy on survival in PD.

Methods: A total of 245 patients with PD were identified and included in the study. Patients were classified into groups of clinical definite, probable, and possible PD. The study period was 8 years. A total of 142 patients died. The mortality rates for the Norwegian population, which were available in 1-year intervals for all birth cohorts and both sexes during the study period, were used as controls.

Results: The standardized mortality ratio (SMR) for the total patient group was 1.52. The mortality rate was increased for both sexes (male SMR = 1.54, female SMR = 1.49) and in all age groups at disease onset (<60 years SMR = 1.92, 60 to 70 years SMR = 1.50, >70 years SMR = 1.41). The survival of patients with clinical definite PD was only modestly reduced (SMR = 1.35), whereas the SMR for possible PD was as high as 1.99.

Conclusions: Our study gives evidence for increased mortality in PD despite modern treatment. The increase is not extensive in patients with a high probability for idiopathic PD.