The Prevalence of Hospitalized Parkinson’s Disease Patients in All Case Hospitalization among Different Race/Ethnic Subgroups in Hawai‘i

Background: Little is known about the epidemiology of Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients in Native Hawaiian Or Other Pacific Islander (NHPI) and Asian American (AA) subgroups. Objective: To determine if the prevalence of hospitalized PD patients is different across age groups and racial/ethnic subgroups in Hawai‘i. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of Hawai‘i statewide registry (2016–2020) hospitalization data for patients who were 50 years or older. PD patients were identified using an ICD 10 code: Parkinson’s Disease (G20) as their primary/secondary hospitalization discharge diagnosis code. Demographic and clinical characteristics among racial/ethnic subgroups (White, Japanese, Filipino, Chinese, NHPI, or Other) were compared. Results: Of 146,844 total hospitalized patients (n = 429,879 records), 1.6% (n = 2,401) had a PD diagnosis. The prevalence of hospitalized PD patients was 2.3% among Japanese and Chinese, followed by 1.7% for Whites, 1.2% for Filipinos and was lowest for NHPI with 0.9% (p < 0.001). As patient’s age increased, the prevalence of hospitalized PD patients increased, with 80–84 years old for the highest age range (3.4%). The prevalence of hospitalized PD patients at 80–84 years old varied across the race/ethnic subgroups (Chinese 4.3%, Japanese 4.0%, Whites 3.7%, Filipinos 2.5%, NHPI 2.3%). Conclusions: The prevalence of hospitalized PD patients among all case hospitalizations were lower for NHPI and Filipino compared to that of Japanese, Chinese, and Whites. As patients’ age increased, the prevalence of hospitalized patients with PD increased, but less so in NHPI and Filipino groups. Further research is warranted to understand the reason for these observed differences among racial/ethnic subgroups.