The pharmacological management of the behavioral aspects of Parkinson's disease: an update.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION:

Behavioural symptoms are common manifestations of Parkinson's disease and include depression, anxiety, impulse control disorders, hallucinations, psychosis, and cognitive dysfunction. They remain inadequately addressed in many patients despite their relevance for quality of life and disability. This applies also to impulse control disorders where the most common approach in recent literature is to refrain from using dopamine agonists without consideration about their potential benefit on motor complications.

AREAS COVERED:

We conducted a narrative review searching for articles on behavioral symptoms in Parkinson disease and selected those which included involved neurotransmitters such as dopamine, noradrenaline, serotonin, acetylcholine. We specifically focused our search on open-label and randomized double-blind studies and biomarkers which could best characterize these clinical manifestations.

EXPERT OPINION:

Management of Parkinson disease behavioural manifestations lacks clear guidelines and standardized protocols beside general suggestions of dose adjustments in dopamine replacement therapy and use of antidepressants or antipsychotic drugs with little consideration of patients' age, sex, comorbidities, and motor status. We suggest a pragmatic approach which includes education of affected patients and caring people, dealing with complex cases by experienced multidisciplinary teams, use of cognitive behavioural therapy, and psychological counselling to complement drug treatment.

• Authors: Marta Campagnolo, Aron Emmi, Roberta Biundo, Eleonora Fiorenzato, Lucia Batzu, K Ray Chaudhuri, Angelo Antonini
• Journal: Expert opinion on pharmacotherapy (Expert Opin Pharmacother) 2023 Sep-Dec Vol. 24 Issue 15 Pg. 1693-1701 ISSN: 1744-7666 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 37493445 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)

Chemical References

• Dopamine
• Antipsychotic Agents

Topics

• Humans
• Parkinson Disease (drug therapy, complications)
• Dopamine (therapeutic use)
• Quality of Life
• Psychotic Disorders (drug therapy)
• Antipsychotic Agents (therapeutic use)
• Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic