The Facts

PD is not fussy. It affects:

• men and women equally,
  
• people in all walks of life
  
• the (comparatively) young and the old.

The PD experience

The public perception is that PD is a disease of old age and indeed the majority of PWP are senior citizens. A growing number of PWP are being diagnosed before the age of 60 (in PD terms they are refered to as Young Onset Parkinsonians, or YOP's). People have been diagnosed with PD in their 20's. The tendency is for YOP's to progress at a slower rate than their older fellow sufferers, but as with so much else with PD, each individual is different.