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Prevalence of Parkinson's disease: a population‐based study in Portugal
Author(s) -
Ferreira J. J.,
Gonçalves N.,
Valadas A.,
Januário C.,
Silva M. R.,
Nogueira L.,
Vieira J. L. M.,
Lima A. B.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
european journal of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.881
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1468-1331
pISSN - 1351-5101
DOI - 10.1111/ene.13273
Subject(s) - medicine , portuguese , disease , parkinson's disease , population , cross sectional study , demography , mainland , mainland china , gerontology , pediatrics , environmental health , pathology , geography , china , philosophy , linguistics , archaeology , sociology
Background and purpose Portugal has been identified as one of the countries with a high prevalence of LRRK 2‐G2019S, considered to be the most frequent known cause of familial and sporadic Parkinson's disease ( PD ). The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of PD in Portugal using a door‐to‐door methodology. Methods A cross‐sectional study was conducted in the Portuguese community‐dwelling population; that is, elderly people living in the community on their own, aged ≥50 years and resident in mainland Portugal, in two phases: (i) a questionnaire was applied to screen potential cases of PD ; and (ii) screened cases were evaluated by an expert in PD to confirm diagnosis. Results The adjusted prevalence of PD for the Portuguese community‐dwelling population aged ≥50 years was 0.24%. The estimated total number of cases of PD for the Portuguese population is 180/100 000 inhabitants. Conclusions The results of this study show that a geographical region with a high frequency of a causal mutation for PD does not automatically imply a high prevalence of patients with PD.