Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Jul;21(3):140-145.
doi: 10.1179/1743291X12Y.0000000037.

Co-morbidities of persons dying of Parkinson's disease

Lynn Lethbridge  1 , Grace M Johnston, George Turnbull
Affiliations

Co-morbidities of persons dying of Parkinson's disease

Lynn Lethbridge et al. Prog Palliat Care. 2013 Jul.

Abstract

Introduction: Disease interactions can alter functional decline near the end of life (EOL). Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by frequent occurrences of co-morbidities but data challenges have limited studies investigating co-morbidities across a broad range of diseases. The goal of this study was to describe disease associations with PD.

Methods: We conducted an analysis of death certificate data from 1998 to 2005 in Nova Scotia. All death causes were utilized to select individuals dying of PD and compare with the general population and an age-sex-matched sample without PD. We calculated the mean number of death causes and frequency of disease co-occurrence. To account for the chance occurrence of co-morbidities and measure the strength of association, observed to expected ratios were calculated.

Results: PD decedents had a higher mean number of death causes (3.37) than the general population (2.77) and age-sex-matched sample (2.88). Cancer was the most common cause in the population and matched sample but fifth for those with PD. Cancer was one of nine diseases that occurred less often than what would be expected by chance while four were not correlated with PD. Dementia and pneumonia occurred with PD 2.53 ([CI] 2.21-2.85) and 1.83 (CI 1.58-2.08) times more often than expected. The strength of association for both is reduced but remains statistically significant when controlling for age and sex.

Discussion: Those with PD have a higher number of co-morbidities even after controlling for age and sex. Individuals dying with PD are more likely to have dementia and pneumonia, which has implications for the provision of care at EOL.

Keywords: Advance care planning; Co-morbidity; Death certificates; Palliative care; Parkinson disease.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Comparison of age distribution – those with PD as a cause and all deaths.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Comparison of total number of causes on death certificates.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Parkinson Society Canada. Parkinson information. 2009. Available from: http://www.parkinsons-society.org/pdf/news/progression.pdf. [accessed 2010 Nov 1]
    1. Truong DD, Bhidayasiri R, Wolters E. Management of non-motor symptoms in advanced Parkinson disease. J. Neurol. Sci 2008;266(1–2):216–28 - PubMed
    1. Beyer MK, Herlofson K, Arsland D, Larsen JP. Causes of death in a community-based study of Parkinson's disease. Acta Neurol Scand 2001;103(1):7–11 - PubMed
    1. Nuyen J, Schellevis FG, Satariano WA, et al. Comorbidity was associated with neurologic and psychiatric diseases: a general practice-based controlled study. J Clin Epidemiol 2006;59(12):1274–84 - PubMed
    1. Aarsland D, Brønnick K, Ehrt U, et al. Neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with Parkinson's disease and dementia: frequency, profile and associated care giver stress. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2007;78(1):36–42 - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources