Parkinson's disease (Parkinson's syndrome).

Parkinson's disease - A 21st century disease

According to the World Health Organisation, from 2040 onwards neuro-degenerative diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's will overtake cancers as the second most common cause of death after cardiovascular diseases. In the next 20 years it is expected that there will be a doubling in the numbers of people with Parkinson's disease (idiopathic Parkinson's disease, primary Parkinsonism).

Even more common than Parkinson's disease itself are: Parkinsonian symptoms

Up to 50% of humanity is affected by Parkinsonian symptoms

Up to 50% of humanity is affected by Parkinsonian symptoms

Even more common than Parkinson's disease itself, in the narrower sense, by which about 300,000 people in Germany are affected, are people who have Parkinsonian symptoms. Parkinsonian symptoms are found especially amongst people with all types of neuro-degenerative diseases. Whereas 10% of people over the age of 65 have at least two Parkinsonian symptoms, around 50% of people over the age of 85 will display some of these symptoms.

Parkinson´s disease

The name Parkinson's disease refers back to the London surgeon, palaeontologist and politician James Parkinson who in 1817 published a treatise entitled "An Essay on the Shaking Palsy" which for the first time described the clinical picture of six patients whom he had observed in the street with what came to be called "Parkinson's disease". Parkinson was the first person to trace the various symptoms back to a common cause in the brain. The Latin name used to describe this condition, paralysis agitans, or agitated paralysis, later became known colloquially as the "shaking palsy". The term palsy technically means a loss of motor function or paralysis. This is somewhat misleading because this condition does not involve paralysis and the primary symptom is the tremor or shaking which the patient experiences. A tremor features in only about 50% of patients with Parkinson's disease and is found more frequently in people who do not have Parkinson's, in people who have another important type of motor disorder, the so-called essential tremor.

Professional care

Ceballos-Baumann

Prof. Dr. med.

Andres Ceballos-Baumann


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