Final Project: Parkinson’s disease

Subtopics
1. The definition of Parkinson’s disease
2. Symptoms of disease
3. Diagnosis of disease
4. Prognosis and Statistics of disease
5. Coping with Parkinson’s disease
6. Treatment for Parkinson’s disease
7. Caring for individuals with Parkinson’s disease
8. Reference Page
Statistics
The US National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) estimated in a 2006 report that about 50,000 new cases of Parkinson’s disease are diagnosed in the US each year, and the total number of cases in the US is at least 500,000. The true prevalence (total number of cases) of Parkinson’s disease is difficult to assess, because the disease is typically not diagnosed until the disease process is already far advanced. Therefore the actual number of Americans with the disease is almost certainly higher than the diagnostic numbers would suggest.

Worldwide numbers are difficult to obtain, but in industrialized countries the prevalence of Parkinson’s disease is about 1% for people over 60, with estimates of up to 4% for people in the highest age groups (de Lau & Breteler 2006). The risk of developing Parkinson’s disease rises sharply with age after the age of 60, so the number of cases is likely to grow significantly as populations become older throughout the world. In the US, for example, Dorsey et al (2007) estimated that the prevalence will at least double by 2030.
According to the 2006 report referenced above, NINDS estimates that the economic cost of Parkinson’s disease in the US exceeds $6 billion per year. This figure may be conservative; other estimates are much higher, particularly when indirect costs such as lost productivity are also included. For example, Huse et al (2005) estimated a cost to the US economy of $23 billion