Efficacy and tolerability of dopamine agonists in a parkinsonian population.

A clinical retrospective study was carried out in a population of 366 Parkinson's disease (PD) outpatients, to analyse the efficacy and tolerability of nonergoline and ergoline dopamine agonist (DA), in monotherapy or in combination with L-dopa. Safety was comparable in both groups except for higher occurrence of gastrointestinal symptoms in ergoline group and somnolence in nonergoline group. No significant difference concerning efficacy and tolerability was found during DA monotherapy. Mean age at PD onset was slightly higher in patients withdrawing DA monotherapy for adverse events comparing to patients who needed the addition of L-dopa (60.36 +/- 7.53 versus 54.88 +/- 10.75; p<0.05), suggesting that older age at the onset of the disease increases the risk for adverse events during DA monotherapy. The follow-up of the remaining patients still in monotherapy with DA will allow a better evaluation of these aspects.