A comprehensive assessment of lifecourse and mortality of Parkinson’s disease in the German National Cohort
A strong increase in the prevalence and deaths of Parkinson's disease (PD) has been reported over the last three decades. Ageing societies, genetic and environmental factors and access to health care contribute to these increases. Using data of the German National Cohort (NAKO) PD classifications based on self-report, claims data and a brief medication based algorithm to increase validity in the absence of neurologic examinations, were compared and the PD incidence, selected non-motor symptoms, functions and vital status were analysed. The algorithm based PD prevalence among 205.000 participants was 0.13% but it was 2.5-fold higher in claims data. Self-reported PD incidence was 0.13% over a median of 4.8 years follow-up, but cases had a 4-fold higher mortality, worse emotional, motoric and olfactory functions and higher prevalences of diabetes, obesity, depression and anxiety. The algorithm based PD prevalence and the mortality risk was similar to considerable older population studies from Europe.
Authors
- Sebastian Heinzel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4516-0529)
- Ilais Moreno Velásquez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6058-8983)
- Tobias Pischon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1568-767X)
- Karin B. Michels (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5137-5505)
- Hermann Brenner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6129-1572)
- André Karch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3014-8543)
- Oliver Riedel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1721-502X)
- Annette Peters (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6645-0985)
- Theresa Herrmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-6108-1593)
- Michael Bartl
- Willich Sn
- Verena A. Katzke
- Philipp T. Meyer
- Matthias B. Schulze
- Claudia Trenkwalder
- Rafael Mikolajczyk
- Brit Mollenhauer
- Beate Fischer
- Thomas Keil
- Klaus Berger
- Jara Sabin
- Stefanie Castell
- Ulrich Mueller
- Tom L. Berger
- Christina M. Lill
- Tamara Schikowski
- Anja M. Hauri
Institutions
- University of Freiburg (DE)
- Philipps University of Marburg (DE)
- University of Potsdam (DE)
- German Cancer Research Center (DE)
- Max Delbrück Center (DE)
- Heidelberg University (DE)
- University of Münster (DE)
- University of Würzburg (DE)
- University Medical Center Freiburg (DE)
- Helmholtz Zentrum München (DE)
- Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (DE)
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE)
- Zimmer Biomet (Germany) (DE)
- Leibniz Institute of Environmental Medicine (DE)
- University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein (DE)
- Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology - BIPS (DE)
- Paracelsus Elena Klinik Kassel (DE)
- Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (DE)
- German Institute of Human Nutrition (DE)
- Imperial College London (GB)
- University of Regensburg (DE)
- Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (DE)
- University of Göttingen (DE)
- Freie Universität Berlin (DE)
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin (DE)
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE)
- University of Lübeck (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- npj Parkinson s Disease
- Published
- 2026-06-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41531-026-01446-0
- Primary Topic
- Parkinson's Disease Mechanisms and Treatments
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00