Prevalence of Parkinson's disease in the L'Aquila district, central Italy

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Abstract
Objective – We estimated the prevalence of Parkinson's disease (PD) in the L'Aquila district. Methods – Cases of PD were identified screening all available case sources including general practitioners and antiparkinsonian drug‐users by means of pharmacy records. Prevalence of PD was computed considering the prevalence day of December 31, 2001. Results – On the prevalence day, 682 patients with PD were alive and residing in the L'Aquila district. A total of 354 patients were women and 328 men. The overall crude prevalence rate was 229.3/100,000 (95% CI 212.7–247.1), without any difference between men (227.4/100,000; 95% CI 200.0–257.5) and women (231.1/100,000; 95% CI 202.2–263.1). Prevalence rates increased with age in both sexes and were higher in urban (244.5/100,000; 95% CI 213.7–278.5) than in rural residents (214.7/100,000; 95% CI 189.0–242.9) (SRR = 1.7; 95% CI 1.3–2.1). Conclusions – The prevalence of PD in the L'Aquila district was within the range of prevalence rates found in our country and steeply increased with advancing age in both sexes.