Whether Parkinson's disease (PD) increases mortality remains something of a moot point. Some studies suggest that mortality among PD patients is more than three'fold higher than the death rates in the general population. Other studies suggest there's no difference. Changes in mortality over time are also inconsistent.However,some researchers detect a decline in mortality beginning during the 1970s,around the time that levodopa entered clinical practice.1 Now a new study2 that followed PD patients for 20 years helps clarify this sometimes controversial relationship. Freelance medical writer, Mark Greener, reports. Copyright © 2009 Wiley Interface Ltd