Trends in the incidence and prevalence of Parkinson\u2019s disease in Korea: a nationwide, population-based study

Moonyoung Choi,Yong-Gyu Park,Do-Young Kwon,Kyungdo Han,Shinhye Kim,Jin-Hyung Jung,Joo-Hyun Park,Do-Hoon Kim

doi:10.1186/s12877-019-1332-7

Abstract

BackgroundThe lack of adequate and detailed epidemiological data of Parkinson’s disease (PD), especially in Asia, is a barrier to future disease burdens and the prospect of effective public health plans. This study aimed to investigate temporal trends in the incidence and prevalence of PD in South Korea from 2010 to 2015, based on uniform diagnostic criteria.MethodsThis study examined all PD patients registered in a South Korean national registry database of more than 50 million individuals. We analyzed the incidence and prevalence of PD according to age, gender, and region.ResultsThe annual incidence of PD was between 22.4–27.8 cases per 100,000 individuals. During the 6-year study period, there were 73,726 new PD patients, 42.3% of whom were men. The standardized incidence of PD increased over time in men but remained constant in women until 2013 but began to increase in 2014. The female-to-male ratio in the incidence of PD was 1.4:1 while the female-to-male ratio in the prevalence of PD was 1.6:1. The age- and gender-standardized prevalence of PD increased from 115.9 cases per 100,000 individuals in 2010 to 139.8 cases per 100,000 individuals in 2015. From 2014, the incidence and prevalence of PD peaked in individuals aged between 80 and 89 years in both men and women. Regional analysis also showed an increased prevalence of PD in all regions of Korea.ConclusionsThe incidence and prevalence of PD in Korea were higher in women and increased gradually from 2010 to 2015. The findings may contribute to epidemiological studies of PD in Asia, and may provide clues on risk factors for PD.

Highlights

The lack of adequate and detailed epidemiological data of Parkinson’s disease (PD), especially in Asia, is a barrier to future disease burdens and the prospect of effective public health plans
We investigated the temporal trends in the prevalence and incidence of PD in Korea over 6 years using data from the entire Korean population
All patients with rare intractable diseases (RID) are required to have their diagnosis certified by a physician through the uniform diagnostic criteria that are distributed by the national health insurance service (NHIS)

Summary

Introduction

The lack of adequate and detailed epidemiological data of Parkinson’s disease (PD), especially in Asia, is a barrier to future disease burdens and the prospect of effective public health plans. This study aimed to investigate temporal trends in the incidence and prevalence of PD in South Korea from 2010 to 2015, based on uniform diagnostic criteria. As the number of older individuals within a population increases, so does the impact of chronic diseases on public health. The estimated incidence and prevalence of PD reported in previous studies vary to a large extent due to difference in methodologies, diagnostic criteria, case-finding strategies and a limited sample size [2, 8]. Previous studies have reported that the incidence of PD increased [9, 10], stabilized [11], or slightly decreased [12,13,14] over the years

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