Longitudinal Gompertzian analysis of parkinson's disease mortality in Japan, 1950–1993

Abstract

Age-specific mortality rates from Parkinson's disease (PD) in Japan from 1950 through 1993 were subjected to longitudinal Gompertzian analysis. Age-specific PD mortality rate distributions between age 45 and 75 years were determined by a common fixed intersection point and a variable competitive factor. The intersection point for PD occurred at age 65.36 years and mortality rate 2.45 per 100, 000 for men, and at age 65.49 years and mortality rate 2.12 per 100, 000 for women from 1950–1951 to 1992–1993. The increase in PD mortality is due entirely to rapidly increasing age-specific mortality rates at ages greater than the intersection points for both sexes. Longitudinal Gompertzian analysis suggests that the rising mortality from PD has been the consequence of competitive influences upon PD mortality dynamics.