1月2日，据《每日科学》报道，根据发表于JAMA/Archives期刊--Archives of Neurology2012年1月期上的一则报告，人口统计学和临床因素似乎与帕金森病（PD）患者的生存相关，老年痴呆症的存在与死亡率的显著增加相关。
虽然帕金森病是在老年人中是一种常见的神经退行性疾病，在患者的存活率和疾病之间却存在相冲突的数据，根据这篇文章中的背景信息。
Allison W.Willis，医学博士，来自于圣路易斯华盛顿大学医学院，和同事们进行了一个全国性的回顾性队列研究，关于2002年诊断并跟进到2008年的患有帕金森病的13.8万医保受益者。
性别和种族"显著预测"生存，研究者注意到。女性患者，拉美裔或亚洲裔相对于白种人具有较低的死亡调整风险。在这个6年-研究中，64%帕金森患者死亡，黑人患者具有最高的粗死亡率（66.4%），其次是白种人患者（64.6%）、拉美裔患者（55.4%）、亚洲裔患者（50.8%）。
在研究期限结束时，69.6%的研究群体被诊断为老年痴呆症，黑人患者的频率为最高（78.2%），其次是拉美裔患者（73.1%）。白种人和亚洲人患者患帕金森病相对较低，老年痴呆的发生率分别为69%和66.8%。
同时患有帕金森病和老年痴呆症的患者比那些没有痴呆症的患者具有较大可能的死亡。研究人员还注意到，晚期帕金森病的患者经常住院治疗心血管疾病和感染，很少是治疗帕金森病。他们还指出，生活在城市工业金属高排放地区的帕金森患者具有较高的调整后死亡风险，但研究人员还指出，需要开展更多的工作来了解环境因素能否影响帕金森病或生存的过程。
"我们的研究表明，老年痴呆症通常发生在65岁及以上的帕金森病患者中；这对于我们研究的变量--年龄-调整的生存有最强的影响。我们的数据重点突出了在帕金森病患者中预防或治疗老年痴呆症的必要性，因为它对生存有有很大影响。"，作者总结道。（生物谷bioon.com）
doi:10.1001/archneurol.2011.2370
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Predictors of Survival in Patients With Parkinson Disease
A. W. Willis, M. Schootman, N. Kung, B. A. Evanoff, J. S. Perlmutter, B. A. Racette.
Objective：To determine the life expectancy of patients with Parkinson disease (PD) in the United States and identify demographic, geographic, and clinical factors that influence survival. Design：Retrospective cohort study of 138 000 Medicare beneficiaries with incident PD who were identified in 2002 and followed up through 2008. Main Outcome Measures：Confounder-adjusted 6-year risk of death as influenced by 3 groups of factors: (1) race, sex, and age at diagnosis; (2) geography and environmental factors; and (3) clinical conditions. We examined hospitalization diagnoses in patients with terminal PD and compared PD mortality with that of other common diseases. Results：Thirty-five percent of patients with PD lived more than 6 years. Sex and race significantly predicted survival; patients who were female (HR [hazard ratio], 0.74; 95% CI, 0.73-0.75), Hispanic (HR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.65-0.80), or Asian (HR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.82-0.91) had a lower adjusted risk of death than white men. Dementia, diagnosed in 69.6% of cases and most often in African American patients (78.2%) and women (71.5%), was associated with a greater likelihood of death (HR, 1.72; 95% CI, 1.69-1.75). Parkinson disease mortality was greater than that of many common life-threatening diseases. Patients with terminal PD were hospitalized frequently for cardiovascular disease (18.5%) and infection (20.9%) but rarely for PD (1.0%). Regional survival rates were similar but patients with PD living in urban high industrial metal emission areas had a slightly higher adjusted risk of death (HR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.10-1.29). Conclusions：Demographic and clinical factors impact PD survival. Dementia is highly prevalent in patients with PD and is associated with a significant increase in mortality. More research is needed to understand whether environmental exposures influence PD course or survival.
