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Division of Movement Disorders, Department of Neurology (Dr. Gorell); and the Division of Biostatistics and Research Epidemiology (Dr. Johnson and B.A. Rybicki), Henry Ford Hospital & Health Sciences Center, Detroit, MI.
Using data from death certificates, we compared underlying causes of death for two populations of Michigan decedents: (1) persons 40 years of age and older for whom Parkinson's disease (PD) was listed as a contributing cause of death and who died in the years 1970 through 1989, and (2) all persons in Michigan over 40 years of age who died in 1970, 1980, or 1990. PD decedents were approximately 1.5 times more likely to die from cerebrovascular disease and three to four times more likely to die from pneumonia/influenza, but they had just 29% of the expected number of deaths due to cancer. These associations were maintained irrespective of gender or race. PD decedents had diabetes melli-tus and heart diseases as frequently as decedents in the general population, but liver diseases were less frequent among PD decedents. These trends held throughout the 21-year study period. When we stratified cancers by whether they are known to be (1) highly related, (2) moderately related, or (3) weakly related or unrelated to smoking, there were still 2.5 times fewer cancers unrelated or weakly related to smoking among PD decedents than among decedents in the general population. We believe that the greater frequency of cerebrovascular disease in PD decedents may be due to a detection bias, since PD patients are more likely to be seen by neurologists, who are more apt to diagnose and document diseases of the nervous system. Pneumonia/influenza is more common among PD patients because of their relative immobility near the end of life. Although the inverse association of PD with cancer remains unexplained, there may be genetic or environmental factors that individuals with PD have been exposed to that decrease their susceptibility to cancer.
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Jay M. Gorell, Department of Neurology, K-11, Henry Ford Hospital & Health Sciences Center, 2799 W. Grand Boulevard, Detroit, MI 48202.
Supported in part by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (1 RO1 ES06418-01) and by the William T. Gossett Parkinson's Disease Center, Department of Neurology, Henry Ford Hospital & Health Sciences Center, Detroit, MI.
Received November 12, 1993. Accepted in final form March 24, 1994.
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