Background: Dopamine agonists have a well established role in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. The choice of a particular dopamine agonist requires assessing the benefit-risk balance of each available medication.Objective: The present study evaluated the tolerability and safety of ropinirole against those of other dopamine agonists (bromocriptine, cabergoline, pramipexole, rotigotine, pergolide) and placebo in monotherapy and adjuvant therapy with levodopa in the treatment of ...

BACKGROUND: Dementia in Parkinson disease (PD) causes nursing home placement, caregiver distress, higher health care burden, and increased mortality.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the microtubule-associated protein tau (MAPT) H1 haplotype and MAPT subhaplotypes play a role in the risk of PD and Parkinson disease-dementia (PDD) complex.

DESIGN: Case-control genetic analysis.

SETTING: Movement Disorders and Memory Units, Hospital de Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain.

PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred ...

This article presents the revision process, major innovations, and clinimetric testing program for the Movement Disorder Society (MDS)-sponsored revision of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), known as the MDS-UPDRS. The UPDRS is the most widely used scale for the clinical study of Parkinson's disease (PD). The MDS previously organized a critique of the UPDRS, which cited many strengths, but recommended revision of the scale to accommodate new advances and to resolve ...

BACKGROUND: Cholinergic deficits are prominent in patients who have dementia associated with Parkinson's disease. We investigated the effects of the dual cholinesterase inhibitor rivastigmine in such patients.

METHODS: Patients in whom mild-to-moderate dementia developed at least 2 years after they received a clinical diagnosis of Parkinson's disease were randomly assigned to receive placebo or 3 to 12 mg of rivastigmine per day for 24 weeks. Primary efficacy variables were the scores ...

BACKGROUND: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder causing motor and non-motor symptoms that can affect independence, social adjustment and the quality of life (QoL) of both patients and caregivers. Studies designed to find diagnostic and/or progression biomarkers of PD are needed. We describe here the study protocol of COPPADIS-2015 (COhort of Patients with PArkinson's DIsease in Spain, 2015), an integral PD project based on four aspects/concepts: 1) PD as ...

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Neurodegenerative disorders (ND) have a major impact on quality of life (QoL) and place a substantial burden on patients, their families and carers; they are the second leading cause of disability. The objective of this study was to examine QoL in persons with ND.

METHODS: A battery of subjective assessments was used, including the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF) and the World Health Organization Quality of Life - Disability ...

Importance: Although levodopa remains the most effective oral pharmacotherapy for Parkinson disease (PD), its use is often limited by wearing off effect and dyskinesias. Management of such complications continues to be a significant challenge.

Objective: To investigate the efficacy and safety of safinamide (an oral aminoamide derivative with dopaminergic and nondopaminergic actions) in levodopa-treated patients with motor fluctuations.

Design, Setting, and Participants: From March 5, ...

OBJECTIVE: To confirm that performance in verbal learning and memory test (Rey's Auditory Verbal Learning Test-RAVLT) is a helpful early neuropsychological marker of dementia of Alzheimer's type (DAT).

METHODS: RAVLT was administered as part of a more extensive neuropsychological battery at baseline evaluation in 116 unselected patients referred by subjective memory complaints (SMC). Patients were followed longitudinally for 2 years (average interval of 27.7+/-4 months). Seventy patients ...

We present a clinimetric assessment of the Movement Disorder Society (MDS)-sponsored revision of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS). The MDS-UDPRS Task Force revised and expanded the UPDRS using recommendations from a published critique. The MDS-UPDRS has four parts, namely, I: Non-motor Experiences of Daily Living; II: Motor Experiences of Daily Living; III: Motor Examination; IV: Motor Complications. Twenty questions are completed by the patient/caregiver. ...

Patients with dementia of Alzheimer's type (DAT) show severe impairment in recognizing famous people. The aim of the current study was to investigate if this well-known memory impairment of famous faces is already present in the preclinical phase of DAT and if the famous faces test can help to differentiate patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) who progress to dementia and those who do not. We compared baseline performance in a task of famous face identification in a sample of ...

Cognitive defects associated with cortical pathology may be a marker of dementia in Parkinson's disease (PD). There is a need to improve the diagnostic criteria of PD dementia (PDD) and to clarify the cognitive impairment patterns associated with PD. Current neuropsychological batteries designed for PD are focused on fronto-subcortical deficits but are not sensitive for cortical dysfunction. We developed a new scale, the Parkinson's Disease-Cognitive Rating Scale (PD-CRS), that was ...

BACKGROUND: In studies of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in Parkinson disease (PD), patients without dementia have reported variable prevalences and profiles of MCI, likely to be due to methodologic differences between the studies.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine frequency and the profile of MCI in a large, multicenter cohort of well-defined patients with PD using a standardized analytic method and a common definition of MCI.

METHODS: A total of 1,346 patients ...

BACKGROUND: Dementia is a frequent and devastating complication in Parkinson's disease (PD). There is an intensive search for biomarkers that may predict the progression from normal cognition (PD-NC) to dementia (PDD) in PD. Mild cognitive impairment in PD (PD-MCI) seems to represent a transitional state between PD-NC and PDD. Few studies have explored the structural changes that differentiate PD-NC from PD-MCI and PDD patients.

OBJECTIVES AND METHODS: We aimed to analyze changes in ...

There is controversy regarding the definition and characteristics of mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease. The Movement Disorder Society commissioned a Task Force to critically evaluate the literature and determine the frequency and characteristics of Parkinson's disease-mild cognitive impairment and its association with dementia. A comprehensive PubMed literature review was conducted using systematic inclusion and exclusion criteria. A mean of 26.7% (range, 18.9%-38.2%) of ...