Cross-sectional study of the prevalence of Parkinson's disease in the Kibbutz Movement in Israel

Background. The prevalence of PD in Israel has never been studied. Objective: To study the prevalence of Parkinson's disease (PD) in a well-defined population of the Kibbutz Movement in Israel. The population which lives in kibbutzim is unique because all these people are under close medical care and the demographic data regarding this population are well defined. Methods: Questionnaires were sent to the medical clinics of 270 kibbutzim in Israel to provide demographic details as well as medical information about all PD patients who have been diagnosed by neurologists. Two subgroups were determined: aged over 40 years and over 60 years. Results: Of the total of 73,767 people studied, PD was diagnosed in 180 patients yielding a cross-sectional prevalence rate of 0.24% for the entire population. Age-adjusted prevalence was 0.94% in the population over 60 years and 0.33% in the population over 40 years. The mean age of disease onset was 66.7 +/- 11 years. Topographic location was not found to be a risk factor for the development of PD in Israel. Conclusions: The prevalence of PD in the Israeli kibbutz population is similar to that reported in most other population-based studies. We observed an older age at symptom onset in the Kibbutz Movement than most other epidemiological studies. Copyright (C) 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel.