Problematic gambling on dopamine agonists: Not such a rarity.
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.
Grosset
Katherine A
KA
Institute of Neurological Sciences, Southern General Hospital, Glasgow, Scotland. dgrosset@clinmed.gla.ac.uk
Macphee
Graeme
G
Pal
Guru
G
Stewart
David
D
Watt
Andrew
A
Davie
Jim
J
Grosset
D G
DG
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
D018491:Dopamine Agonists