How common are the "common" neurologic disorders? Neurology. 2007; Jan 30; 68(5):326-337.
Multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson's disease, and other neurologic diseases may be far more common than most people had believed, according to new estimates.
Nearly 1 out of 1,000 Americans has MS, the survey found.
The new survey also found the rate of Alzheimer's disease was up substantially from past estimates, with 67 out of 1,000 Americans over 65 years of age affected.
Nearly 10 out of 1,000 older Americans have Parkinson's disease, and 4 out of every 100,000 have amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, the survey found.
The survey projects that the number of people with Parkinson's will double from about 4.3 million people to 9 million people worldwide over the next 25 years.
It corroborated other studies on childhood neurologic disorders, finding that nearly 6 out of every 1,000 children have autism, and 2 out of every 1,000 children have cerebral palsy.