Parkinson's disease severity and use of dopaminergic medications

Background The effects of dopaminergic therapy in parkinson's disease (PD) can vary depending on the class of medication selected. Objective The aim of this post hoc study was to determine if the class of dopaminergic therapy correlated with disease severity in persons with early, treated PD. Methods A non-parametric global statistical test (GST) was used to assess the status of participants treated with dopamine agonist (DA) monotherapy, levodopa (LD) monotherapy or combined LD and DA therapy on multiple PD outcomes encompassing motor, cognitive, psychiatric and autonomic function, as well as disability and quality of life. Results The outcomes measured at the beginning of the study showed lower disease burden for participants on initial DA monotherapy compared to those taking combined LD and DA therapy after controlling for age, education, taking cog-meds and amantadine. Conclusion This observation suggests that clinicians treating early PD patients favor combined LD and DA therapy in patients with more disabling features over DA monotherapy. As such, studies of PD progression in treated PD patients may be affected by the class of symptomatic dopaminergic therapy.