Jan. 7, 2013 Parkinson's disease itself does not increase the risk of impulse control problems such as compulsive gambling and shopping that have been seen in people taking certain drugs for Parkinson's disease, according to new research published in the January 8, 2013, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. "We've known for some time that these behaviors are more common in people taking certain Parkinson's medications, but we haven't known if the disease itself leads to an increased risk of these behaviors," said study author Daniel Weintraub, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia. The study involved 168 people who had recently been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and had not yet taken any medications for the disease. They were compared to 143 people of similar ages who did not have the disease. The participants were given a questionnaire asking how often they had impulse control symptoms such as compulsive gambling, shopping, sexual behavior or eating. Participants were also asked about aimless wandering, punding (which is excessive repetition of non-goal directed activity, such as continual handling and sorting of common objects) and hobbyism (the compulsive pursuit of a hobby … Continue reading →

Public release date: 7-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Kim Menard kim.menard@uphs.upenn.edu 215-662-6183 University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine PHILADELPHIA - While approximately one in five Parkinson's disease patients experience impulse control disorder symptoms, the disease itself does not increase the risk of gambling, shopping, or other impulsivity symptoms, according to research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. A new study is the first to show in a large sample that people with untreated Parkinson's were no more likely to have an increased impulsivity than people without the disease. Published in the January 8, 2013, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, this study is the strongest research to date reinforcing the reported association between disease medications and impulse control disorders in Parkinson's. "When looking at newly diagnosed Parkinson's patients who had yet to be treated with drugs targeting the dopamine system, we saw no difference in impulsivity than what we found in healthy people without the disease," said lead study author Daniel Weintraub, MD, associate professor of Psychiatry and Neurology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. "Now knowing that the disease … Continue reading →