No Change in the Age‐Adjusted Incidence of Parkinson's Disease in Finland for More Than 25 Years

What is the Parkinson Pandemic?

“…In an analysis based on the Finnish National Prescription Register, Isotalo et al 32 described an increase in age‐standardized PD incidence over the interval from 1997 to 2014. A more recent analysis of the same dataset described stable age‐standardized PD incidence over the interval from 1994 to 2017 33 . In the latter analysis, Sipila and Kaasinen 33 describe rising age of diagnosis of PD over this interval and comment that PD occurrence in Finland tracks the age structure of the Finnish population.…”

“…A more recent analysis of the same dataset described stable agestandardized PD incidence over the interval from 1994 to 2017. 33 In the latter analysis, Sipila and Kaasinen 33 describe rising age of diagnosis of PD over this interval and comment that PD occurrence in Finland tracks the age structure of the Finnish population. Using national administrative data and a "rare intractable diseases" registry including PD, Park et al 34 describe an 18% increase in incidence in South Korea from 2010 to 2015.…”

“…It is also possible that there might be offsetting effects of changes in hazard and protective factors for PD incidence. Sipila and Kaasinen, 33 for example, point to largely coincident declines in agrochemical exposure and cigarette smoking as a theoretical explanation for stable PD incidence in Finland. Similarly, Chinese industrialization is accompanied by large increases in tobacco abuse.…”

Adult-Onset Neuroepidemiology in Finland: Lessons to Learn and Work to Do

“…The sensitivity and specificity of these data are therefore unknown, although a preliminary check suggested 80% accuracy [152]. It appears likely that these data (Figure 4) can be sufficiently relied upon to reach two conclusions: there is a "belt" of higher PD incidence that runs diagonally across Finland [153], and the age-standardised overall incidence of the disease has remained unchanged for more than 25 years [154]. That last finding is similar to one recently reporting on neighbouring Lastly, our knowledge about the epidemiology of Parkinson's disease (PD) in Finland is not much more advanced than that of AD.…”

Regarding: High Correlations Among Worldwide Prevalences of Dementias, Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis and Motor Neuron Diseases Indicate Common Causative Factors

“…4 Indeed, for example in Finland the areas with high occurrence of PD, MS and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) are clearly separate: PD is most common in the middle parts of the country, with a belt of high PD incidence going across 'the waist' of Finland whereas MS is most common in a single Bothnian region and the southwest while ALS is most commonly found in the southeastern parts of the country. [5][6][7][8] Unfortunately, no current studies on the incidence and prevalence of dementia in Finland are available. There are also marked regional differences in MS epidemiology in Norway and these do not seem to have a clear correlation with ALS rates in the country.…”