Wow what a reply.
There has been much debate on the impact of the Industrial Revolution on the standard of living. [1]
I think we can agree that the quality of life of the working class in England deteriorated in the early part of the Industrial Revolution. For instance [2]:
Quote:
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An interesting example shows the increase in the overall death-rates in the industrial town of Carlisle where before the introduction of mills (1779–1787), 4,408 out of 10,000 children died before reaching the age of five, and after their introduction the figure rose to 4,738. Before the introduction of mills, 1,006 out of 10,000 adults died before reaching 39 years old, and after their introduction the death rate rose to 1,261 out of 10,000.
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But, to link this to Parkinson's would require an association between poverty and the disease. In a naive sense the opposite is probably true: PD is associated with age; life expectancy is associated with wealth. However, if we take this confounding effect into account, we are left with the interesting question:
Is age adjusted PD incidence associated with wealth or poverty?
References
[1] "The Standard ofLiving Debate and the Industrial Revolution"
Kirby P.
Refresh 1997
http://www.ehs.org.uk/ehs/refresh/assets/Kirby25a.pdf
[2] "The Condition of the Working Class in England"
Engels F., 1845, reported in Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Con...***_in_England
John