Prevalence and Drug Treatment of the Parkinsonian Syndrome in Malta

Abstract

The prevalence of the parkinsonian syndrome in Malta was determined from a retrospective study conducted on 34 patients who were suffering from the parkinsonian syndrome at a geriatric residence. A crude prevalence rate of 92.8 per 100,000 population was obtained. Idiopathic Parkinson''s disease was the most common variant. A study of drug treatment showed that a longer improvement period is obtained by initiating de novo parkinsonian patients on anticholinergic drug treatment and then transferring them to L-dopa-carbi-dopa when disease progression renders anticholinergic drug treatment inefficacious.