Parkinson's Deaths Continue to Rise

White men have the highest age-adjusted death rates for Parkinson's Disease in the US, according to statistics released today by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

That rate has climbed since 2000, when it was 8.8 per 100,000 population to the 2013 rate of 11.0 per 100,000, the CDC found.

Rates for black men also rose, from just over 4 per 100,000 to near 5 per 100,000.

Black women had the lowest Parkinson's death rate at under 2 per 100,000, a rate that has changed only slightly since 2000.

White women's rate was similar to that of black men.

Throughout the period, the rate for men was higher than the rate for females and the rates for whites were higher than those for blacks.

Though researchers do not know the causes of the disease, recent research has suggested that exposure to certain pesticides and herbicides, a genetic susceptibility to that exposure, and a history of of head injuries are all suspected.

The full statistics are here.