Objective: To estimate the prevalence and incidence of Parkinson’s in New Zealand and to investigate if these measures differ between the major ethnic groups represented in the New Zealand population.

Background: New Zealand is a culturally diverse island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The resident population at the 2013 census was 4.2 million people. The major ethnic groups are European, Maori, Asian, and Pacific. No previous studies have used nation-wide data to estimate prevalence and incidence of Parkinson’s in New Zealand.

Methods: Information on Parkinson’s-related medications was extracted from the national pharmaceutical database of community-dispensed medications for the period 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2014 for all of New Zealand. Drug-tracing methods were used to establish the likelihood of a Parkinson’s diagnosis for those over 20 years of age. Each individual was classified into one of four categories (very probable, probable, possible, and unlikely) based on their medication use for the entire period they appeared in the dataset. Diagnosis confirmation for a sub-set of people was achieved through national mortality and hospital admissions databases, as well as local research and neurological outpatient databases. Prevalence and incidence rates were calculated for 2013 using Statistics New Zealand data, and were age-standardized using the New Zealand 2013 population age profile.

Results: The 2013 national prevalence of Parkinson’s in New Zealand was 217 per 100,000 population. We saw higher age-standardized prevalence rates for males compared to females (272 vs. 170 per 100,000, ratio 1.64:1). Incidence was 32 per 100,000 person-years, with age-standardized rates higher in males (40 vs. 23 per 100,000 person-years, ratio 1.7:1). Prevalence and incidence were higher in the European ethnic group compared to other ethnicities. Age-standardized rates – prevalence; European: 245, Asian: 185, Pacific: 162, and Maori: 104: per 100,000 population and incidence; European: 38, Asian: 30, Pacific: 26, and Maori: 22 per 100,000 person-years, respectively.

Conclusions: We found differing rates of Parkinson’s across ethnicities even after accounting for relative population age profiles. Varying genetic and environmental influences, as well as differing healthcare access rates, are potential explanations for these observed ethnic differences.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/ethnic-differences-in-rates-of-parkinsons-in-new-zealand-a-nation-wide-prevalence-and-incidence-study/