Abstract
The Finnish Twin Cohort includes all Finnish same-sexed twins born before 1958 and alive in 1967; the number of individuals alive in 1975 was 33,247. We performed a search for cases with Parkinson's disease among this cohort by linking the Twin Cohort Register with the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register and the Finnish Sickness Insurance Register. We ascertained altogether 42 cases of Parkinson's disease occurring in 41 twin pairs, including 18 monozygotic pairs, 14 dizygotic pairs, and nine pairs of undetermined zygosity. Only one dizygotic pair was concordant for Parkinson's disease; all other pairs were discordant. In 1981, the expected number of cases among the Twin Cohort, calculated according to the age- and sex-specific prevalence rates of Parkinson's disease in Finland, was 33. At the same time, the observed number of patients alive was 35. This study, further substantiating the low concordance for Parkinson's disease in monozygotic as well as in dizygotic twins and indicating that the prevalence of Parkinson's disease in twins compares with the prevalence in the general population, suggests that Parkinson's disease is an acquired disease not caused by a hereditary process.
- © 1988 by AAN Enterprises, Inc.
Disputes & Debates: Rapid online correspondence
REQUIREMENTS
If you are uploading a letter concerning an article:
You must have updated your disclosures within six months: http://submit.neurology.org
Your co-authors must send a completed Publishing Agreement Form to Neurology Staff (not necessary for the lead/corresponding author as the form below will suffice) before you upload your comment.
If you are responding to a comment that was written about an article you originally authored:
You (and co-authors) do not need to fill out forms or check disclosures as author forms are still valid
and apply to letter.
Submission specifications:
- Submissions must be < 200 words with < 5 references. Reference 1 must be the article on which you are commenting.
- Submissions should not have more than 5 authors. (Exception: original author replies can include all original authors of the article)
- Submit only on articles published within 6 months of issue date.
- Do not be redundant. Read any comments already posted on the article prior to submission.
- Submitted comments are subject to editing and editor review prior to posting.