Impact of belief in neuroprotection on therapeutic intervention in Parkinson's disease.
We explored the hypotheses that an investigator's belief in a putative neuroprotective agent might influence the timing of symptomatic intervention and the assessment of signs and symptoms of patients with Parkinson's disease with the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS). These hypotheses were tested with Cox and general linear modeling, using data from a previously published double-blind placebo-controlled futility trial of coenzyme Q(10) and GPI-1485. We found the investigators' level of confidence in these agents had no effect on the time to symptomatic therapy or on the change in UPDRS during 12 months of treatment.
Department of Neurology, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, Illinois, USA. relble@siumed.edu
Rodger J
RJ
Elble
Oksana
O
Suchowersky
Stephanie
S
Shaftman
William J
WJ
Weiner
Peng
P
Huang
Barbara
B
Tilley
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014451:Ubiquinone / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; D014451:Ubiquinone