Life expectancy in Parkinson disease

As of 1967, the answer to the question, "How long have I got, Doc?" posed by a patient with Parkinson disease (PD) was 9.4 years from onset to death.1 This was the era before levodopa and before most of the "atypical parkinsonisms" other than postencephalitic parkinsonism were distinguishable from PD. By 1993, post levodopa but pre–deep brain stimulation, the figure had improved to 13.1 years,2 and by 2016 to 14.6 (±7.7) years.3 With an average PD onset age of 60 years, the relevant comparator is 23.3 years, the general population's life expectancy from that point.4