Parkinson's disease life expectancy
2/17/24, 9 mins reading
How long can people live with Parkinson's disease? Can people die from Parkinson's disease? Parkinson’s disease itself is not fatal, the symptoms don’t cause death, however, complications from Parkinson’s disease could be fatal. Among all complications, pneumonia, and falls (especially resulting in hip fractures)are the two most common causes of death from Parkinson’s disease.
Factors Affecting Life Expectancy
Multiple factors could affect the life expectancy of Parkinson’s disease patients. A PD patient without cognitive impairment could live a pretty much normal life with proper treatments available. Here are some factors that are associated with mortality.
Onset age. The earlier the onset is, the longer period of time in absolute term patients will live.
Ethnicity. A study has shown that black and Asian have an increased risk of earlier death compared to other ethnicities.
Cognitive ability. Parkinson’s disease patients without cognitive impairments are more likely to be able to live a normal life. On the other hand, PD patients with cognitive disabilities are expected to have a reduced life expectancy, the more severe cognitive impairments, the shorter life expectancy.
Gender. women have a lower incidence rate, however, women also have a faster progression and higher mortality once they are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease
Treatment availability. The access to medication plays a critical role in managing Parkinson’s disease given the fact that Parkinson’s disease is a particularly treatable disorder. Besides, treatments for non-motor symptoms such as depression, anxiety, sleeping disorders, etc will be significantly helpful in improving life quality and standard of living which in turn would extend life expectancy.
Idiopathic Parkinson’s disease
According to one of the studies conducted on the population of 50 or older in the Netherlands, the average life expectancy of men of 50 or older after diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease is 19.5 years, compared to 31.5 years in the control group without Parkinson’s disease. Correspondingly, the life expectancy for the women group after diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease is 25.9 years, and the control group without Parkinson’s disease is 35.4 years. In another study conducted in a population of all ages from Norway, the median survival years for both men and women were about 15 years. All the cases studied from both populations are idiopathic.
Early onset Parkinson’s disease
Compared to results obtained from idiopathic Parkinson’s disease, the ones conducted from familial or early onset Parkinson’s disease appear slightly different. A rule of thumb for early-onset Parkinson’s disease patients is: the earlier the onset is, the longer the survival time is, however, the shorter the total life expectancy for both genders is. As this study has shown: the median survival time for Parkinson’s disease patients aged 20-39 is 32 years, and the median survival time goes down as the age of Parkinson’s disease patients goes up with 8 years for patients aged older than 80.
In summary
Over the years, the survival time of Parkinson’s disease patients has significantly increased. The reasons for the increase could be more treatments accessible, the improvement of living standards, lifestyle change, and the raising of awareness for the public.