Day 1: How Many?

Parkinson's Journey

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Posted: 01 Apr 2014 08:21 AM PDT As many as one million Americans live with Parkinson's disease, 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 seven to 10 million people worldwide are living with Parkinson's disease. Incidence of Parkinson’s increases with age, but an estimated four 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. [Parkinson's Disease Foundation and just because it happens to be April 1st, we're not fooling around… Although it typically develops after the age of 65, about 15% of people with the condition develop “young-onset” Parkinson's disease before reaching age 50.