Idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) can be subdivided by its patterns of motor symptoms into tremor-dominant (TDT), akinetic-rigid (ART), and mixed type (MT). Our objective was to determine whether age at onset and family history are different in these three types. In total, 366 patients with PD were assigned in a standardized approach to one of the three subtypes. Age at onset and family history were obtained in all patients and all presumably affected family members were examined. Mean ages at disease onset were similar in all three groups, but distribution of age at onset was markedly different: monophasic in TDT with a peak around 60 years, biphasic in ART with two peaks, one in the middle of the sixth decade (earlier onset, ART-EO), another during the first half of the seventh decade (later onset, ART-LO), and increasing with age only in MT patients A positive family history was significantly associated only with TDT (odds ratio = 5.7) and ART-EO (odds ratio = 7.8), but not with MT or ART-LO patients. Segregation analysis suggested an autosomal recessive mode of transmission in ART-EO and an autosomal dominant mode of transmission in TDT.