Parkinson's disease burden, inequality, and projections in Asia, 1990-2050

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a growing neurological and public health challenge in Asia, but evidence integrating long-term trends, socioeconomic inequality, demographic drivers, and future burden remains limited.

We analysed Global Burden of Disease Study 2023 estimates of PD incidence, prevalence, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) in 51 Asian countries and territories from 1990 to 2023. We assessed age-standardised rates, temporal trends, Socio-demographic Index-related inequality, demographic decomposition, frontier gaps, age-defined early- and late-onset PD, and sex-specific projections to 2050.

In 2023, Asia had an estimated 751,892 incident cases, 6,383,013 prevalent cases, and 4,363,170 DALYs. Age-standardised incidence, prevalence, and DALY rates were 13.97, 119.93, and 83.90 per 100,000 population, respectively. From 1990 to 2023, incidence and prevalence rates increased (estimated annual percentage changes, 0.98% and 1.41%), whereas the DALY rate increased modestly (0.12%). West Asia had the highest age-standardised burden. Inequality widened for incidence and prevalence, while DALY burden shifted towards lower-SDI settings. Changes in population age structure made the largest contribution to the increase in absolute burden. By 2050, PD burden is projected to reach 1.94 million incident cases, 17.74 million prevalent cases, and 16.01 million DALYs.

The rapidly increasing and unequal PD burden in Asia requires ageing- and development-sensitive strategies for surveillance, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, long-term care, caregiver support, and environmental risk reduction.