The number of people growing old and living longer have led to
ominous projections for Parkinson's disease.
By 2030, the numbers will double in developing Asian nations and
there might be 80 percent more Americans with the disease, according
to a new study in the United States.

Ray Dorsey and colleagues at the University of Rochester say the
prevalence will grow as populations shift in age. In 2005, an
estimated 4.1 million people worldwide had Parkinson's disease. In
25 years, that number is predicted to climb to 8.7 million.

"This is a chronic condition that will be claiming more and more
people," said Dorsey, co-author of the study published this month in
the journal Neurology. The scientists say China and India have
growth curves that are more like a triangle, with more young people
than older ones. Over time, this will tip the scales as the young
population ages and leave more people vulnerable to Parkinson's and
other age-related diseases like Alzheimer's.

Parkinson's is primarily an age- related disease. Symptoms take hold
when most of the dopamine-containing cells in a brain region called
the substantia nigra die away. But while medicines that target the
brain chemical dopamine offer relief in the early days of the
disease, in time they stop working effectively. The treatments do
not seem to help gait disturbances, freezing, falling and dementia
that follow the path of this disease.

The answer, the researchers say, will come from more research and
new treatments that protect against Parkinson's or slow its course.
Parkinson's researchers now know it is not only dopamine-containing
cells at play in the progressive illness. Parkinson's is
characterized by other pathologies spread throughout the brain.

Work is under way to develop drug treatments - including gene
therapy and stem-cell therapy - to stall the disease process.


Jamie Talan
January 31, 2007(The Standard) -