Understanding Parkinson's Disease

Impact on quality of life

What impact does Parkinson’s disease have?

  • Parkinson’s disease (PD) significantly impacts on patients’ quality of life1 and that of their caregivers2
  • As the disease progresses:
    • movement and everyday tasks become more difficult
    • speech may be affected
    • patients may develop an expressionless or mask-like face
    • sufferers may develop a shuffling walk without arm movement
    • initiating activity may be difficult but once started, patients move too fast and can end up almost running
  • The traditional motor features of PD are not necessarily the features that lead to the most profound disability
  • It is estimated that approximately 40% of people with PD suffer from some form of depressive symptom.3 The PRODEST* study showed a high prevalence of depressive symptoms in PD patients and that these symptoms may be distinct from what is known as a depressive syndrome.4-7 The PRODEST* study identified that nearly half of those PD patients receiving anti-depressants continued to experience depressive symptoms. This consideration might suggest a different treatment approach for depression in PD4,8
  • Furthermore, results from an international, placebo-controlled trial,9 showed that Mirapexin®/Sifrol® (pramipexole) can also improve depressive symptoms, a common, disabling non-motor symptom of PD, in addition to its established efficacy in treating the motor symptoms of PD. The results confirm the findings from an earlier clinical study where pramipexole had shown an antidepressive effect comparable to that of an SSRI when treating PD-related depressive symptoms,10 and support data from other trials which suggested that pramipexole may have a positive effect on depressive symptoms and motivation associated with PD.11-23

*PROfile of DEpressive SympToms in Parkinson’s Disease

View references

  1. Kuopio AM et al. The quality of life in Parkinson's disease. Mov Disord 2000; 15(2): 216-23.
  2. Caap-Ahlgren M et al. Factors of importance to the caregiver burden experienced by family caregivers of Parkinson's disease patients. Aging Clin Exp Res 2002; 14(5): 371-377.
  3. Tandberg E et al. The occurrence of depression in Parkinson's disease. Arch Neurol 1996; 53(2): 175-179.
  4. Barone P et al. PRODEST – Depressive symptoms in Parkinson's disease: Patterns across scales. Poster P1.167 presented at XVII WFN World Congress on Parkinson's Disease and Related Disorders 2007, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
  5. Barone P et al. Depression and antidepressant use in Parkinson's disease: Results from the PRODEST-PD study. Poster P1122 presented at 11th Congress of EFNS 2007, Brussels.
  6. Poewe W. Depression in Parkinson's disease. J Neurol 2007; 254(Suppl 5):49-55.
  7. Byrne R, Chaudhuri KR. Depression: a key non-motor symptom of Parkinson's disease. Prog Neurol Psychiatry  2006; 10(5):15-21.
  8. Barone P et al. Design of a randomized, placebo-controlled trial of pramipexole in patients with Parkinson's disease and depressive symptoms. Poster 601 presented at MDS 12th International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders 2008, Chicago, USA.
  9. Barone P et al. Efficacy of Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Pramipexole Against Depression in Parkinson's Disease. Poster M0-248 presented at MDS 13th International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders 2009, Paris, France.
  10. Barone P et al. Pramipexole versus sertraline in the treatment of depression in Parkinson's disease: a national multicenter parallel-group randomized study. J Neurol 2006; 253(5): 601-7.
  11. Lemke MR. Depressive symptoms in Parkinson's disease. Eur J Neurol 2008 Apr; 15 Suppl 1:21-5.
  12. Möller JC et al. Long-term efficacy and safety of pramipexole in advanced Parkinson's disease: results from a European multicenter trial. Mov Disord 2005 May; 20(5): 602-10.
  13. Rektorova I et al. Pramipexole and pergolide in the treatment of depression in Parkinson's disease: a national multicentre prospective randomized study. Eur J Neurol 2003; 10(4): 399-406.
  14. Reichmann H et al. Pramipexole in routine clinical practice. CNS Drugs 2003; 17(13): 965-973.
  15. Lemke MR et al. Depression and Parkinson's disease. J Neurol 2004 Sep;251 Suppl 6:VI/24-7.
  16. Lemke MR et al. Anhedonia, depression, and motor functioning in Parkinson's disease during treatment with pramipexole. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 2005 Spring; 17(2): 214-20.
  17. Rektorova I et al. Cognitive performance in people with Parkinson's disease and mild or moderate depression: effects of dopamine agonists in an add-on to L-dopa therapy. Eur J Neurol 2005; 12: 9-15.
  18. Goldberg JF et al. Preliminary randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of pramipexole added to mood stabilizers for treatment-resistant bipolar depression. Am J Psychiatry 2004 Mar; 161(3): 564-6.
  19. Künig G et al. Pramipexole, a nonergot dopamine agonist, is effective against rest tremor in intermediate to advanced Parkinson’s disease. Clin Neuropharm 1999; 22: 301-305.
  20. Leentjens A et al. The effect of pramipexole on mood and motivational symptoms in Parkinson's disease: a meta-analysis of placebo-controlled studies. Clin Ther 2009 Jan;31(1):89-98.
  21. Poewe W et al. 33-week non-inferiority of extended-vs immediate-release pramipexole tablets in treatment of early Parkinson's disease. Abstract SC202 presented at 13th EFNS Congress 2009, Florence, Italy.
  22. Schapira A et al. Decrease in off-time for extended- and for immediate-release pramipexole in advanced Parkinson's disease. Abstract SC203 presented at 13th EFNS Congress 2009, Florence, Italy.
  23. Rascol O et al. Dosage, safety, and tolerability for overnight switching from immediate- to extended-release pramipexole in early Parkinson's disease. Abstract SC205 presented at 13th EFNS Congress 2009, Florence, Italy.

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