Parkinson's Disease in African American and Caucasian Patients
Condition: Parkinson Disease
MeSH terms: Parkinson Disease
Study type: Observational

Summary: 
      More than 10 million people worldwide are living with Parkinson's disease (PD). While the
      actual number of African American (or Black) patients with PD is unknown, it is clear that
      there are racial disparities in the access to health care, diagnosis, treatment and survival
      of PD. The lack of clear knowledge on the possibly lower PD prevalence among African
      Americans compared to Caucasians further calls for more research in this field. The
      University of Chicago Medicine is an ideal facility to study this topic, due to its location
      on the South Side of Chicago with a large African American (or Black) population. By
      analyzing the demographics, socioeconomics and clinical features of PD patients in our Center
      for Research Informatics in African American (or Black) patients compared to the Caucasians
      of similar geographical area, the investigators aim to work toward a better understanding of
      the unique features of PD in American American (or Black) population, which might help
      improve the healthcare among this population in the Chicago and possibly nationwide as well.
    

Detailed description: 
      The first portion of the study will be a large medical electronic data based search and
      analysis of patients with PD on demographics, socioeconomic status and clinical features of
      PD patients. Specifically, we will retrospectively identify PD patients on both races from
      the electronic medical database spanned from 1/1/2006 to 10/31/2017 and compared
      demographics, socioeconomic status (educations, incomes and insurances), co-morbidities (all
      categories, including mood, cognition and psychosis), treatment (medications for parkinsonism
      and major non-motor symptoms, and frequency and locations of healthcare) and survival, and
      identified factors associated with medication usage and survival.

      The second portion was designed to collect more detailed clinical assessments for information
      not available in the database and blood draws for genetic or candidate gene mutation
      analysis. Unfortunately, this part of the study could not be carried out due to the COVID-19
      pandemic, which began shortly after completion of the first portion of the study. These
      assessments and analyses would have helped determine if there are significant differences in
      the clinical and genetic profiles between the African American (or Black) and Caucasian PD
      patients that account for their differences in clinical features and PD prevalence in these
      two populations.
    

Observational model: Cohort
Time perspective: Retrospective
Sampling method: Non-Probability Sample
Study population: 
        Parkinson's patients of either African American (or Black) or Caucasian race.
      
Biospecimen description: 
      As described in the Study Description above for details on study design. Two tubes of blood
      of 8 ml each will be obtained from patients for future genetic testing