title: Problematic gambling on dopamine agonists: Not such a rarity.
abstract: Excessive gambling is recognized with dopamine agonist therapy, but the prevalence is unknown. We assessed the prevalence of excess gambling by specific prospective enquiry in Parkinson's disease patients attending six West Scotland movement disorder clinics. Of 388 patients taking anti-Parkinson medication, 17 (4.4%) developed pathological gambling, all of whom were prescribed dopamine agonists. Thus, 8% of patients taking dopamine agonists had pathological gambling. Pathological gambling is not uncommon, and patients should be made aware of this potential adverse effect.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neurological Sciences, Southern General Hospital, Glasgow, Scotland. dgrosset@clinmed.gla.ac.uk
authors.forename: Katherine A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Grosset
authors.forename: Graeme
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Macphee
authors.forename: Guru
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pal
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Watt
authors.forename: Jim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Davie
authors.forename: D G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Grosset
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D018491:Dopamine Agonists / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D005715:Gambling; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D018491:Dopamine Agonists