According to the largest study of it’s kind, whites and Hispanics are twice as likely to develop the disease as blacks and Asians.
The findings are based on an analysis of data from 36 million Medicare recipients. It is the first reseasrch of this magnitude to take a significant look at Parkinson’s disease and its relationship to geographic location and ethnicity.
Finding clusters in the Midwest and the Northeast is particularly exciting, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, said in a news release. These are the two regions of the country most involved in metal processing and agriculture, and chemicals used in these fields are the strongest potential environmental risk factors for Parkinson’s disease that have been identified so far.
The study was published online Jan. 15 in the journal Neuroepidemiology. Medical researchers looked specifically at more than 450,000 cases of Parkinson’s disease from 1995 and from 2000 to 2005.
Posted by the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance. For more information on insurance planning, visit the organization’s website.
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