Parkinson’s Disease Basics
11/1/2013
■ As many as 1 million Americans live with Parkinson’s disease (PD), which is more than the combined number of people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, and Lou Gehrig’s disease.
■ Approximately 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease each year, and this number does not reflect the thousands of cases that go undetected.
■ An estimated 7 to 10 million people worldwide are living with PD.
■ Incidence of Parkinson’s increases with age, but an estimated 4 percent of people with PD are diagnosed before the age of 50.
■ Men are one and a half times more likely to have Parkinson’s than women.
What Does Parkinson’s Cost?
The combined direct and indirect cost of Parkinson’s, including treatment, social security payments, and lost income from inability to work, is estimated to be nearly $25 billion per year in the United States alone.
Medication costs for an individual person with PD average $2,500 per year, and therapeutic surgery can cost up to $100,000 dollars per patient.
Source: Parkinson’s Disease Foundation website at: www.pdf.org/en/parkinson_statistics, accessed on Sept. 25, 2013