PD is not considered to be a fatal disease by itself, but it progresses with time. The average life expectancy of a PD patient is generally lower than for people who do not have the disease. In the late stages of the disease, PD may cause complications such as choking, pneumonia, and falls that can lead to death.
Despite medical treatment, the symptoms of Parkinson disease worsen over time, and become less responsive to drug therapy. Late-stage psychiatric symptoms are often the most troubling, including difficulty sleeping, nightmares, intellectual impairment (dementia), hallucinations, and loss of contact with reality (psychosis).
Life expectancy for people suffering from Parkinson’s disease has improved markedly, in recent years, thanks largely to the increasing availability of more effective drugs and therapies for managing the symptoms of this distressing disease.
When doctors talk about prognosis of Parkinson’s disease they refer to the speed of development. You see, there are five stages of Parkinson’s disease. But, not all the patients with Parkinson’s disease deteriorate in the same way. Some of them go through all five stages of illness in seven years, while others can live with Parkinson’s disease over twenty years. And for a better part of these years they are able to live productive lives.
