Hostname: page-component-77c78cf97d-9lb97 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-04-24T08:21:44.336Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Geographic Variations in the Prevalence Rates of Parkinson’s Disease in Alberta

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

W. Svenson Lawrence ,
G. Howard Platt  and
E. Woodhead Sheena
W. Svenson Lawrence*
Affiliation:
Provincial Medical Consultant’s Office, Alberta Health, Edmonton
G. Howard Platt*
Affiliation:
Provincial Medical Consultant’s Office, Alberta Health, Edmonton
E. Woodhead Sheena*
Affiliation:
Provincial Medical Consultant’s Office, Alberta Health, Edmonton
*
Provincial Medical Consultant’s Office, Alberta Health, Box 2222, 18th Floor, 10025 Jasper Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T5J 2P4
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the 'Save PDF' action button.

Parkinson’s disease prevalence rates were examined for the Province of Alberta by age, sex and census division. Using the claims administrative data from the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan, a cohort of all registered individuals (2.4 million) was extracted and followed for the five year period, April 1, 1984 to March 31, 1989. No new members were added to the cohort and an attrition rate averaging 6% per year was observed. The overall crude prevalence rates of 248.9 and 239.8 per 100,000 population were noted for males and females respectively. Both sexes were found to have a statistically significant variation across Alberta’s 19 census divisions. For males, examination of standardized morbidity ratios found a low risk of Parkinson’s disease associated with five census divisions, of which two contained Alberta’s two largest cities. An excess risk was associated with four primarily rural census divisions. Females, on the other hand, had a low risk associated with one rural census division and excess risk in four census divisions. The uneven distribution within Alberta offers support for an environmental theory of etiology which may be associated with rural living.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences , Volume 20 , Issue 4 , November 1993 , pp. 307 - 311
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation 1993

References

REFERENCES

1.Gilroy, J, Holliday, PL.Basic Neurology. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1982.Google Scholar
2.Koller, WC.The diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. Arch Intern Med 1984; 144: 2146–2147.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3.Rajput, AH, Uitti, RJ, Rajput, AH.Neurological disorders and services in Saskatchewan - a report based on provincial health care records. Neuroepidemiology 1988; 7: 145–151.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4.Rajput, AH.Frequency and cause of Parkinson’s disease. Can J Neurol Sci 1992; 19: 103–107.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5.Rajput, AH, Offord, KP, Beard, CM, Kurland, LT.Epidemiology of parkinsonism: incidence, classification, and mortality. Ann Neurol 1984; 16: 278–282.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6.Semchuk, KM, Love, EJ, Lee, RG.Parkinson’s disease and exposure to rural environmental factors: a population based case-control study. Can J Neurol Sci 1991; 18: 279–286.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7.Diamond, SG, Markham, CH, Hoehn, MM, McDowell, FH, Muenter, MD.An examination of male-female differences in progression and mortality of Parkinson’s disease. Neurology 1990; 40: 763–766.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8.Haerer, AF, Anderson, DW, Schoenberg, BS.Survey of major neurologic disorders in a biracial United States population: the Copiah County study. South Med J 1987; 80: 339–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Schoenberg, BS, Anderson, DW, Haerer, AF.Prevalence of Parkinson’s disease in the biracial population of Copiah County, Mississippi. Neurology 1985; 35: 841–845.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10.Kurtzke, JF, Goldberg, ID.Parkisonism death rates by race, sex, and geography. Neurology 1988; 38: 1558–1561.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Lux, WE, Kurtzke, JF.Is Parkinson’s disease acquired? Evidence from a geographic comparison with multiple sclerosis. Neurology 1987; 37: 467–471.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12.Lilienfeld, DE, Sekkor, D, Simpson, S, et al. Parkinsonism death rates by race, sex and geography: a 1980s update. Neuroepidemiology 1990; 9: 243–247.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
13.Lilienfeld, DE, Chan, E, Ehland, J, et al. Two decades of increasing mortality from Parkinson’s disease among the U.S. elderly. Arch Neurol 1990; 47; 731–734.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14.Svenson, LW.Geographic distribution of deaths due to Parkinson’s disease in Canada: 1979–1986. Mov Disord 1990; 5: 322–324.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
15.Svenson, LW.Regional disparities in the annual prevalence rates of Parkinson’s disease in Canada. Neuroepidemiology 1991; 10: 205–210.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16.Svenson, LW, Campbell, RL, Hawkswell, P.The geographic distribution of Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease in Canada: a comparison. Paper presented at the Second Canadian Epidemiology Research Conference, Edmonton, Canada, May 1991.Google Scholar
17.Calne, DB.Current views on Parkinson’s disease. Can J Neurol Sci 1983; 10: 11–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
18.Calne, DB.Current concepts on the etiology of Parkinson’s disease. Mov Disord 1989; 4 (Suppl 1): S11–S14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
19.Bell, J, Clark, AJ.A pedigree of paralysis agitans. Ann Eugen 1926; 1: 455–462.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20.Golbe, LI, Di Iorio, G, Bonavita, V, Miller, DC, Duvoisin, RC.A large kindred with autosomal dominant Parkinson’s disease. Ann Neurol 1990; 27: 276–282.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21.Marsden, CD.Parkinson’s disease in twins. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1987; 50: 105–106 [letter].CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
22.Alonso, MA, Otero, E, D’Regules, R, Figueroa, HH.Parkinson’s disease: a genetic study. Can J Neurol Sci 1986; 13: 248–251.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
23.Roy, M, Boyer, L, Barbeau, A.A prospective study of 50 cases of familial Parkinson’s disease. Can J Neurol Sci 1983; 10: 37–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
24.Ward, CD, Duvoisin, RC, Ince, SE, et al. Parkinson’s disease in 65 pairs of twins and in a set of quadruplets. Neurology 1983; 33: 815–824.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
25.Calne, S, Schoenberg, B, Martin, W, et al. Familial Parkinson’s disease: possible role of environmental factors. Can J Neurol Sci 1987; 14: 303–305.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
26.Ebmeier, KP, Mutch, WJ, Calder, SM.Does idiopathic parkinsonism in Aberdeen follow intra-uterine influenza? J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1989; 52: 911–913.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
27.Mattock, C, Marmot, M, Stern, G.Could Parkinson’s disease follow intra-uterine influenza - a speculative hypothesis. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1988; 51: 753–756.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
28.Langston, JW, Ballard, P, Tetrud, JW, Irwin, I.Chronic parkinsonism in humans due to a product of meperidine-analog synthesis. Science 1983; 219: 979–980.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
29.Burns, RS, LeWitt, PA, Ebert, MH, Pakkenberg, H, Kopin, IJ.The clinical syndrome of striatal dopamine deficiency: parkinsonism induced by 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP). N Engl J Med 1985: 312: 1418–1421.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
30.Testa, B, Naylor, R, Costall, B, Jenner, P, Marsden, CD.Does an endogenous methylpyridinium analogue cause Parkinson’s disease? J Pharm Pharmacol 1985; 37: 679–680.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
31.Bharucha, NE, Bharucha, EP, Bharucha, AE, Bhise, AV, Schoenberg, BS.Prevalence of Parkinson’s disease in the Parsi community of Bombay, India. Arch Neurol 1988; 45: 1321–1323.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
32.Hertzman, C, Wiens, M, Bowering, D, Snow, B, Calne, D.Parkinson’s disease: a case control study of occupational and environmental risk factors. Am J Indust Med 1990; 17: 349–355.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
33.Ho, SC, Woo, J, Lee, CM.Epidemiologie study of Parkinson’s dis ease in Hong Kong. Neurology 1989; 39: 1314–1318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
34.Kessler, II. Epidemiologic studies of Parkinson’s disease III. A community-based survey. Am J Epidemiol 1972; 96: 242–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
35.Koller, W, Vetere-Overfield, B, Gray, C. et al. Environmental risk factors in Parkinson’s disease. Neurology 1990; 40: 1218–1221.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
36.Rajput, AH, Uitti, RJ, Stern, W, Laverty, W.Early onset Parkinson’s disease in Saskatchewan - environmental considerations for etiology. Can J Neurol Sci 1986; 13: 312–316.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
37.Tanner, CM, Chen, B, Wang, W, et al. Environmental factors and Parkinson’s disease: a case-control study in China. Neurology 1989; 39: 660–664.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
38.Stern, M, Dulaney, E, Gruber, SB, et al. The epidemiology of Parkinson’s disease: a case control study of young-onset and old-onset patients. Arch Neurol 1991; 48: 903–907.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
39.Zayed, J, Ducic, G, Campanella, G, et al. Facteurs environmenteaux dans l’etiologie de la maladie de Parkinson. Can J Neurol Sci 1990; 17: 286–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
40.Rajput, AH, Uitti, RJ, Stem, W, et al. Geography, drinking water chemistry, pesticides and herbicides and the etiology of Parkinson’s disease. Can J Neurol Sci 1987; 14: 414–418.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
41.Practice Management Corporation. International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision - Clinical Modification. 3 ed., 1989.Google Scholar
42.Kramer, MS.Clinical epidemiology and biostatistics: a primer for clinical investigators and decision-makers. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1988.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
43.Lilienfeld, AM, Lilienfeld, DE.Foundations of epidemiology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980.Google Scholar
44.Bailar, JC, Ederer, F.Significance factors for the ratio of a Poisson variable to its expectation. Biometrics 1964; 20: 639–643.Google Scholar
45.Fleiss, JL.Statistical methods for rates and proportions. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1981.Google Scholar
46.Roos, LL, Nicol, JP, Cagerge, SM.Using administrative data for longitudinal research: comparisons with primary data collection. J Chron Dis 1987; 40: 41–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
47.Statistics Canada. Urban areas - population and dwelling counts. Ottawa: Minister of Industry, Science and Technology, 1992.Google Scholar
48.Tanner, CM, Chen, B, Wang, W-Z, et al. Environmental factors in the etiology of Parkinson’s disease. Can J Neurol Sci 1987; 14: 419–423.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
49.Kurtzke, JF, Murphy, FM.The changing patterns of death rales in parkinsonism. Neurology 1990; 40: 42–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
50.Diamond, SG, Markham, CH, Hoehn, MM, McDowell, FH, Muenter, MD.An examination of male-female differences in progression and mortality of Parkinson’s disease. Neurology 1990; 40: 7631–766.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
51.Semchuk, KM, Love, EJ, Lee, RG.Etiology of Parkinson’s disease: a test of the multifactorial hypothesis. Can J Neurol Sci 1992; 19: 19–251.Google Scholar