Initial medication in patients of newly diagnosed Parkinson's disease in Taiwan.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Several treatment guidelines for Parkinson's disease (PD) had been proposed in recent decades. The aim of current study was to investigate the initial medication utilized in newly diagnosed PD subjects in Taiwan during an eleven-year period.

Methods

A total of 7,550 patients with newly diagnosed Parkinsonism were retrospectively enrolled from the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan from 2000 to 2010. After excluding patients at risk of secondary or atypical Parkinsonism, those never receiving medication or having incomplete data, 1,645 subjects were included. The participants were then divided into four treating regimen groups, namely levodopa (LD) only group, dopamine agonist (DA) only group, LD+DA group, and No-LD, No-DA group. The demographi

SUBMITTER: Guo YJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4164642 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature