Using the National Center for Health Statistics’ mortality statistics databases for 1991 through 1996, the authors isolated 144,364 individuals 40 yrs of age or older with a primary diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Of these, 122 died by suicide. The rate of suicide in the general population was about 10 times higher than in patients with PD. These different rates of suicide cannot be attributed to differences in age, gender, race, education, or marital status. Compared with patients with suicidal PD, patients with PD who died from other causes manifested significantly lower rates of affective disorders. The referent population exhibited a higher rate of malignancy & a lower rate of depression. The findings suggest that marital status, mood disorder, & somatic comorbidity provide only a limited understanding of completed suicide. (45 refs)