Parkinsons Disease

Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative disorder of the motor system in the central nervous system. It is caused due to the death of the dopamine generating cells of the mid brain. Parkinson’s disease is considered a synucleiopathy due to an abnormal accumulation of alpha-syncline protein in the brain in the form of Lewy bodies, as opposed to other diseases such as Alzheimer's disease where the brain accumulates tau protein in the form of neurofibrillary tangles.

Therapeutic treatment

There is no cure for Parkinson's disease, but medications, surgery and multidisciplinary management can provide relief from the symptoms. The main families of drugs useful for treating motor symptoms are levodopa (usually combined with a dopa decarboxylase inhibitor or COMT inhibitor which does not cross the blood–brain barrier), dopamine agonists and MAO-B inhibitors. 

Statistical analysis

In 2013 PD resulted in about 103,000 deaths globally, up from 44,000 deaths in 1990. The death rate increased from an average of 1.5 to 1.8 per 100,000 during that time.