Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease that is a growing public health challenge. Estimates of the burden of PD have focused on data from high-income countries, with lower-income countries poorly described. We reviewed and examined the prevalence of PD reported by studies in low- to upper-middle-income countries. A systematic literature search was performed in the Medline/PubMed, Embase, LILACS, and Web of Science databases. Age group, sex, and geographic region were considered when analyzing the data. Of the 4327 assessed articles, 57 met the inclusion criteria for qualitative review, and 36 were included in the meta-analysis. Heterogeneity measures were high both as a whole and in each geographic region. Data analysis by geographic region showed that reported prevalence differed across regions, ranging from 49 per 100,000 (Sub-Saharan Africa) to 1081 per 100,000 (Latin America and the Caribbean). There was an increasing prevalence of PD with advancing age (per 100,000): 7 in 40–49 years, 158 in 50–59 years, 603 in 60–69 years, 1251 in 70–79 years, and 2181 in over the age of 80. The prevalence of PD in men and women was similar. There was a greater PD prevalence in populations with a higher 5-year GDP per capita and a higher life expectancy. Our findings suggest a higher prevalence of PD in lower and upper-middle-income countries than previously reported. Comparisons between regions are difficult, as the sociocultural differences and lack of methodological standardization hinder understanding key epidemiological data in varied populations.

Genome-wide genotyping platforms have the capacity to capture genetic variation across different populations, but there have been disparities in the representation of population-dependent genetic diversity. The motivation for pursuing this endeavor was to create a comprehensive genome-wide array capable of encompassing a wide range of neuro-specific content for the Global Parkinson’s Genetics Program (GP2) and the Center for Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias (CARD). CARD aims to increase diversity in genetic studies, using this array as a tool to foster inclusivity. GP2 is the first supported resource project of the Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) initiative that aims to support a collaborative global effort aimed at significantly accelerating the discovery of genetic factors contributing to Parkinson’s disease and atypical parkinsonism by generating genome-wide data for over 200,000 individuals in a multi-ancestry context. Here, we present the Illumina NeuroBooster array (NBA), a novel, high-throughput and cost-effective custom-designed content platform to screen for genetic variation in neurological disorders across diverse populations. The NBA contains a backbone of 1,914,934 variants (Infinium Global Diversity Array) complemented with custom content of 95,273 variants implicated in over 70 neurological conditions or traits with potential neurological complications. Furthermore, the platform includes over 10,000 tagging variants to facilitate imputation and analyses of neurodegenerative disease-related GWAS loci across diverse populations. The NBA can identify low frequency variants and accurately impute over 15 million common variants from the latest release of the TOPMed Imputation Server as of August 2023 (reference of over 300 million variants and 90,000 participants). We envisage this valuable tool will standardize genetic studies in neurological disorders across different ancestral groups, allowing researchers to perform genetic research inclusively and at a global scale.

Background: Identifying hereditary parkinsonism is valuable for diagnosis, genetic counseling, patient prioritization in trials, and studying the disease for personalized therapies. However, most studies were conducted in Europeans, and limited data exist on admixed populations like those from Latin America.Objectives: This study aims to assess the frequency and distribution of genetic parkinsonism in Latin America.Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta‐analysis of the frequency of parkinsonian syndromes associated with genetic pathogenic variants in Latin America. We defined hereditary parkinsonism as those caused by the genes outlined by the MDS Nomenclature of Genetic Movement Disorders and heterozygous carriers of GBA1 pathogenic variants. A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and LILACS in August 2022. Researchers reviewed titles and abstracts, and disagreements were resolved by a third researcher. After this screening, five researchers reanalyzed the selection criteria and extracted information based on the full paper. The frequency for each parkinsonism‐related gene was determined by the presence of pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants among screened patients. Cochran's Q and I² tests were used to quantify heterogeneity. Meta‐regression, publication bias tests, and sensitivity analysis regarding study quality were also used for LRRK2‐, PRKN‐, and GBA1‐related papers.Results: We included 73 studies involving 3014 screened studies from 16 countries. Among 7668 Latin American patients, pathogenic variants were found in 19 different genes. The frequency of the pathogenic variants in LRRK2 was 1.38% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.52–2.57), PRKN was 1.16% (95% CI: 0.08–3.05), and GBA1 was 4.17% (95% CI: 2.57–6.08). For all meta‐analysis, heterogeneity was high and publication bias tests were negative, except for PRKN, which was contradictory. Information on the number of pathogenic variants in the other genes is further presented in the text.Conclusions: This study provides insights into hereditary and GBA1‐related parkinsonism in Latin America. Lower GBA1 frequencies compared to European/North American cohorts may result from limited access to gene sequencing. Further research is vital for regional prevalence understanding, enabling personalized care and therapies. © 2023 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.