Parkinson's disease death

2/22/24, 8 mins reading

Parkinson’s disease itself is not fatal and doesn’t cause death. As a matter of fact, some PD patients can live a normal or near-normal life. In addition, there hasn’t been a universal consensus on whether or not Parkinson’s disease causes higher mortality compared to the general population, however, it is generally accepted by PD community that Parkinson’s disease complications could lead to fatal events.

Causes of Parkinson’s disease death. A A recent study conducted in Austria has summarized the reasons for Parkinson’s disease patients. Among all, Ischaemic heart and cardiovascular disease are the number one cause followed by Parkinson’s disease itself. Here are the details by percentage:

• Ischaemic heart and cardiovascular disease (30%)

• Parkinson’s disease(23%)

• Cerebrovascular disease (14%)

• Neoplasma(12%)

• Gastrointestinal and genitourinary disease(6%)

• Pneumonia and COPD(10%)

• Accident, injury, poisoning (4%)

  Another study conducted in Korea shows similar findings with nervous system disease, circulatory disease, respiratory disease, neoplasm as four major causes of Parkinson’s disease death. The data from both studies also demonstrated that Parkinson’s disease could increase mortality.

Prognostic factors of Parkinson’s disease In addition, a recent Meta review also identified prognostic factors that are independently associated with Parkinson’s disease death as follows:

• Increasing age (either at onset or recruitment)

• Presence of dementia

• Male sex

• Higher Hoehn & Yahr stage

• PIGD phenotype, prominent Bradykinesia or lack of tremor

• Higher Parkinsonian impairment score

• Presence of psychosis or hallucinations

• Presence of extensor plantar response.

In summary

With more studies regarding the cause of Parkinson’s disease death coming up from a variety of populations, regions, and ethnicities, it is believed that Parkinson’s disease overall increases the risk of death despite high heterogeneity. The extent of increase varies depending on experiment design, case inclusion standard, and also treatments.