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Meta-Analysis
. 2020 Sep 7;91(3):e2020088.
doi: 10.23750/abm.v91i3.9443.

Prevalence of Parkinson Disease in Italy: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Matteo Riccò  1 , Luigi Vezzosi  2 , Federica Balzarini  3 , Giovanni Gualerzi  4 , Silvia Ranzieri  5 , Carlo Signorelli  6 , Maria Eugenia Colucci  7 , Nicola Luigi Bragazzi  8
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Prevalence of Parkinson Disease in Italy: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Matteo Riccò et al. Acta Biomed. .

Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common disease of unknown etiology. Even though accurate information on the epidemiology of PD is critical for defining appropriate health policies, epidemiological data on Parkinson's disease (PD) in Italy are often defined as scant or conflicting. Our study attempted to provide an overview on the prevalence of (PD) by means of a systematic review and metanalysis of existing data. Material and methods. We searched into two different databases (PubMed and EMBASE), focusing on studies reporting the prevalence of PD in Italy. Data were extracted using a standardized assessment form, and results of such analyses were systematically reported, summarized and compared. Results. A total of 16 studies were eventually included in the analyses, with a prevalence rate of 193.7/100,000. Available reports were heterogeneous both in design and in eventual figures, and also prevalence estimates were affected by substantial heterogeneity. Interestingly, prevalence rates ranged from 37.8/100,000 inhabitants in subjects aged 0 to 64 years, to 578.7 in age group 65 to 75 years, and 1235.7 in age group 75 years or older. PD was significantly associated with male sex, but only in older age groups (i.e. Odds Ratio, OR 1.37 95%CI 1.22-1.53, and OR 1.31, 95%CI 1.21-1.42 for age groups 65-74 years and 75 years or more, respectively). Discussion and conclusion. While the observed variations in prevalence rates may result from environmental or genetic factors, differences in methodologies for case ascertainment and diagnostic criteria may have significantly affected our estimates. As a consequence, the comparability of existing studies is limited.

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Conflict of interest statement

Each author declares that he or she has no commercial associations (e.g. consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent/licensing arrangement etc.) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
PRISMA flow diagram including keywords employed for the inquiry (i.e. «Parkinson» OR «Parkinson’s disease» OR «Parkinsonism») AND («Italy» OR «Italian») AND («epidemiology» OR «prevalence» OR «frequency»)).
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Geographic locations of studies performed on the prevalence of Parkinson’s disease in Italy (1979 – 2019), and included in the meta-analysis. Deep gray = data retrieved at provincial and/or regional level, by sex and age groups; light grey = data retrieved at provincial and/or regional level, cumulative; * = data retrieved at municipal level.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Forest plot of retrieved studies on the prevalence of Parkinson’s Disease. Prevalence data are reported as cases/100,000 inhabitants with their correspondent 95% confidence intervals (95%-CI). Notes: (a) data on the community of Arcisate; (b) data on the community of San Giovanni Rotondo; * = after removal of cases and population reported from Rosati et al. 1978 and Rosati et al. 1979; ** = after removal of Tominz et al. 2015.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Forest plot of retrieved studies on the prevalence of Parkinson’s Disease, in age group 0 to 64 years. Prevalence data are reported as cases/100,000 inhabitants with their correspondent 95% confidence intervals (95%-CI). Notes: (a) data on the community of Arcisate; (b) data on the community of San Giovanni Rotondo; * = after removal of Tominz et al. 2015.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Forest plot of retrieved studies on the prevalence of Parkinson’s Disease, in age group 65 to 74 years. Prevalence data are reported as cases/100,000 inhabitants with their correspondent 95% confidence intervals (95%-CI). Notes: (a) data on the community of Arcisate; (b) data on the community of San Giovanni Rotondo; * = after removal of Tominz et al. 2015.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Forest plot of retrieved studies on the prevalence of Parkinson’s Disease, in age group 75 years or more. Prevalence data are reported as cases/100,000 inhabitants with their correspondent 95% confidence intervals (95%-CI). Notes: (a) data on the community of Arcisate; (b) data on the community of San Giovanni Rotondo; * = after removal of Tominz et al. 2015.
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
Forest plot of retrieved studies on the prevalence of Parkinson Disease, in the whole study population (1), in age groups 0-64 year-old (2), 65-74 year-old (3), 75 year-old or more (4): association of cases with male gender are assessed as Odds Ratios (ORs) with their correspondent 95% confidence intervals (95%-CI). Notes: (a) data on the community of Arcisate; (b) data on the community of San Giovanni Rotondo.
Figure 8.
Figure 8.
Contour-enhanced funnel plots of available studies on the Italian prevalence of Parkinson disease.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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