Abstract
Three hundred patients with Parkinson's disease taking dopamine agonists were surveyed for the presence of compulsions. Fifty-eight reported active compulsions which had developed after initiation of dopamine agonists. These included 25 with sexual compulsions and 28 with self-described compulsive gambling, of whom 17 met criteria for pathologic gambling. Males were over-represented. Patients with any compulsion and those with pathologic gambling were about 6 years younger than those without compulsions. These behavioral problems were not associated with an individual dopamine agonist, nor dose or duration, nor concomitant levodopa. Follow-up of the pathologic gamblers 1 year after intervention, which was cessation of the dopamine agonist in most cases, found ongoing but controlled gambling in five and complete cessation within 4 months in the remainder.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1178-1181 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Journal of Clinical Neuroscience |
Volume | 14 |
Issue number | 12 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 2007 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Dopamine agonists
- Gambling
- Parkinson's disease
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Surgery
- Neurology
- Clinical Neurology
- Physiology (medical)