Clinical Response of Levodopa Carbidopa Combination in Patients with Idiopathic Parkinsonism
Correspondence Address :
Dr. Abhijith Lalesh Merajoth,
Room no 13, pg Hostel for Men, Government Medical College Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala-695011, India.
E-mail: abhiii04@yahoo.in
Introduction: Parkinson’s disease is the most common form of a group of progressive neurodegenerative disorders. The use of levodopa as dopamine – replacement therapy is highly effective in ameliorating the symptoms of the disease and remains the standard drug with which other therapies are compared.
Aim: To study the change in Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating scale (UPDRS) scores in patients receiving levodopa and carbidopa treatment (levodopa- carbidopa combination).
Materials and Methods: Study was conducted in Department of Neurology, Government Medical College, Trivandrum, India on 75 patients. All patients diagnosed with Idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (PD) satisfying inclusion criteria were enrolled into the study. Informed written consent was taken from all patients. Baseline UPDRS scores were recorded followed by reassessment at the end of six month. Data was analysed using paired t-test with help of SPSS-16 statistical software.
Results: Baseline UPDRS was collected and after 6 months of treatment, it was reassessed. Baseline total score was 49.8; the follow-up score was 39.5. A decrease in score was seen in various components of UPDRS.
Conclusion: Upon statistical analysis this difference was found to be significant, which implies that, there is improvement in patient’s condition. Improvement was noted in Mentation, behaviour, mood, activities of daily living and motor functions. Hence there is positive treatment response for levodopa carbidopa therapy in patients with idiopathic PD.
Activities of daily living, Neurodegeneration, UPDRS
DOI: 10.7860/JCDR/2016/16043.7886
Date of Submission: Sep 14, 2015
Date of Peer Review: Oct 31, 2015
Date of Acceptance: Mar 18, 2016
Date of Publishing: May 01, 2016
Financial OR OTHER COMPETING INTERESTS: None.
- Emerging Sources Citation Index (Web of Science, thomsonreuters)
- Index Copernicus ICV 2017: 134.54
- Academic Search Complete Database
- Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
- Embase
- EBSCOhost
- Google Scholar
- HINARI Access to Research in Health Programme
- Indian Science Abstracts (ISA)
- Journal seek Database
- Popline (reproductive health literature)
- www.omnimedicalsearch.com