Cross‐sectional survey of Parkinson's disease and parkinsonism in a rural area of the United Kingdom

The objective of this study was to estimate the crude and standardized age/sex‐adjusted prevalence rates of parkinsonism and Parkinson's disease (PD) in a rural area of North Wales. Cases of PD and parkinsonism in a geographically defined rural area of North Wales were ascertained from the prescription of antiparkinsonian medication in primary care, hospital records, attendance at general medical outpatient clinics and at a specialist movement disorder clinic. In this population, the crude prevalence of clinically probable/possible PD was 144 per 1000,000 (95% confidence interval [CI], 120–173) and for parkinsonism 169 per 100,000 (95% CI, 143–201). When adjusted to the UK population, the prevalence for clinically probable PD was 105 per 100,000 (95% CI, 85–124) and for parkinsonism 122 per 100,000 (95% CI, 102–143). Age‐ and sex‐adjusted standardized rates indicate that regional variations in PD and parkinsonism may exist in the United Kingdom. There are several possible reasons for this, although methodological differences between studies may be the most likely explanations for the present findings. © 2005 Movement Disorder Society