Comparison of the prevalence of Parkinson's disease in black populations in the rural United States and in rural Nigeria: door-to-door community studies

• Published in: Neurology Vol. 38; no. 4; pp. 645 - 646
• Main Authors: SCHOENBERG, B. S, OSUNTOKUN, B. O, ADEUJA, A. O. G, BADEMOSI, O, NOTTIDGE, V, ANDERSON, D. W, HAERER, A. F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hagerstown, MD Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 01-04-1988
• Subjects: African Americans; African Continental Ancestry Group; Biological and medical sciences; Degenerative and inherited degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Leukodystrophies. Prion diseases; Humans; Medical sciences; Mississippi; Neurology; Nigeria; Parkinson Disease - epidemiology; Rural Population; Nigeria; Mississippi; Human; Nervous system diseases; Rural environment; United States; Africa; America; Negroid; Parkinson disease; Nigeria; North America; Epidemiology
• ISSN: 0028-3878; 1526-632X
• DOI: 10.1212/WNL.38.4.645

A door-to-door survey of Parkinson's disease (PD) in Copiah County, Mississippi, using a pretested screening procedure (with a high sensitivity for detecting PD), followed by examination of all positives by a senior neurologist, revealed similar prevalence ratios for blacks and whites. The same procedure was applied in the community of Igbo-Ora, Nigeria, a black population of West Africa. To assure uniformity in the procedures and application of the diagnostic criteria, a neurologist from each survey site visited the other site. Among a black population of 3,521 over age 39 in Copiah County, there were 12 cases of PD, with an age-adjusted prevalence ratio of 341/100,000. The comparable figures for Igbo-Ora were as follows: population over age 39 = 3,412; cases of PD = 2; age-adjusted prevalence ratio = 67/100,000.