Prevalence of Parkinson’s disease in an urban area of Cienfuegos city

Abstract

Background: Numerous populations' studies have reported that Parkinson's disease is more common in highly industrialized countries than the agricultural societies and more frequent in Europe and North America than the Far East. Studies carried out in urban areas of Cuba report a prevalence of 135/¬100000 inhabitants. Objective: To determine the prevalence of Parkinson's disease in an urban area of Cienfuegos. Method: A descriptive-prospective study was conducted. The study included all the patients diagnosed with Parkinson's disease belonging to the Area II in the Cienfuegos' municipality; a total of 31 patients were included in a region where 8681 patients are 60 years old or even older. Results: For a total of 42028 patients, 8681 were 60 years old or older, and 31 suffer from Parkinson's disease (27=65 years), with a prevalence of the masculine sex (15/12) and an average of age of 77.6±8.6. The index of prevalence (IP) of patients older than 60 years was 357.1/100000 inhabitants and the totality of the population reached 73.8/100000 inhabitants being the average of IP for patients older than 60 years, in other latitudes it fluctuates in 147.7/100000 inhabitants. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the high index of prevalence for people older than 60 years, which keeps above the average worldwide.