Parkinson's disease in Kin-Hu, Kinmen: a community survey by neurologists

A door-to-door survey by neurologists in Kin-Hu township, Republic of China, of a sample of the Chinese population of 683 persons aged 50 years and over was performed in August, 1992. A total of 482 subjects (70.6%) completed the study. Kin-Hu, a township of Kinmen, is predominantly rural with agriculture as the main occupation. Six subjects (5 men, 1 woman) were diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (PD). Of these six, five were newly diagnosed; one of the five also had dementia. The crude prevalence rate per 1,000 persons over 50 years of age of PD in Kin-Hu was 6.2. The age-specific prevalence rates per 1,000 persons (95% confidence intervals) were 0 for age 50-59, 7.8 (0-22.9) for age 60-69, 17.5 (5.2-29.8) for age 70-79, and 25.4 (10.9-39.9) for age > or = 80. These rates are considerably higher than those reported in the People's Republic of China, and similar to rates found in Western countries. The higher prevalence of PD found in this pilot study suggests that environmental factors may be more important than racial factors in the pathogenesis of PD. If confirmed, the results suggest that epidemiologic studies looking for environmental risk factors might be of value.