Prevalence of Parkinson disease among the Navajo: a preliminary examination.

Background: The prevalence of Parkinson disease (PD) varies by geographic location and ethnicity, but has never been studied among the Navajo.

Methods: Period prevalence was calculated using the number of people diagnosed with PD in the Shiprock Service Unit Indian Health Service database during 1995-1999, 2000-2004, and 2005-2009 as the numerator, and the number seen for any reason as the denominator. Age-standardized rates were calculated using the 2000 US population.