J Korean Neurol Assoc.  1997 Aug;15(4):783-789.

Effects of Long-term Levodopa Treatment to Depression in Parkinson's Disease

• Choi CH
• Lee JH
• Sohn YH
• Kim JS

Abstract

Depression is frequently accompanied in idiopathic Parkinson's disease, and there were many researches about the pathogenetic mechanism of the depression. Recently the depression is thought to be developed by endogenous mechanism or reactive mechanism. To investigate the relationship between the changes of depression and the responsiveness of movement symptoms to the levodopa therapy, the UPDRS and BDI were checked before and after treatment of long-tem levodopa treatment. After levodopa treatment, the UPDRS was significantly improved but the depression was not improved. The depression severity in patients with Parkinson's disease were not influenced by the age, sex, symptom duration, treatment duration and the improvement of movement symptoms. And there were no differences in the clinical features between the levodopa responsive group and levodopa unresponsive group. Any clinical parameters do not predict the responsiveness of the depression to the levodopa therapy. These results suggest that the depression in Parkinson's disease, if it is endogenous, is related to neurochemical systems other than dopaminergic, or if it is reactive, is seldom influenced by drug-induced symptomatic improvement.

MeSH Terms

Depression*
Humans
Levodopa*
Parkinson Disease*
Levodopa