title: Beneficial effect of pramipexole for motor function and depression in Parkinson's disease.
abstract: We examined whether pramipexole (PPX) can influence depressive scale in normal and mild depressive parkinsonian patients. In an open study of PPX as an add-on to L-dopa therapy or single administration, 36 nondemented outpatients with Parkinson's disease (PD) were entered first. All were in the stage II or III of Hoehn and Yahr scale (H&Y). PPX were started at 0.125 mg/day and daily doses were increased to 1.5 mg/day. At 3 months after PPX treatment, patients were re-evaluated. Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale III, H&Y stage, and freezing of gait questionnaire were compared in patients before and after PPX treatment. These scores were significantly improved after PPX administration. There were no correlations between HAM-D and those motor functions. We suggest that PPX treatment has antidepressant effects in depressive PD patients and also ameliorates HAM-D score in nondepressive PD patients in addition to motor function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Methodist Neurological Institute, 6565 Fannin St F772 Houston, TX, USA. osamukano@aol.com
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kano
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.forename: Tetsuhito
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kiyozuka
authors.forename: Konosuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iwamoto
authors.forename: Hirono
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawase
authors.forename: Ryuta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Toshiki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujioka
authors.forename: Yo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Araki
authors.forename: Shigeji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baba
authors.forename: Yasuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Iwasaki