Activity and acceptability of piribedil in Parkinson's disease: a multicentre study

Several controlled trials have shown that the dopamine agonist, Trivastal (piribedil), is active in the treatment of Parkinson's disease, particularly with regard to tremor. To determine its efficacy as monotherapy in patients previously untreated with levodopa, a 3-month multicentre study was conducted with Trivastal 50 mg LP in 113 patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease. The study population consisted of 66 men and 47 women, aged 63.1, SD 0.6 (43-79) years with a 2.1, SD 0.2 (1-15) year history of Parkinson's disease. Mean disease stage was 1.82 (1-4) by the Hoehn and Yahr classification. Tremor was the predominant clinical feature in 42 patients; the remaining 71 patients displayed the full parkinsonian syndrom. Trivastal 50 mg LP was prescribed stepwise up to doses of 150-250 (207, SD 6.4) mg/day at the end of 3 months. No concomitant anti-parkinsonian medication was given. Patients were clinically assessed at 1, 2 and 3 months on the Webster scale, a specific tremor scale and the HARD depression scale. Mean results were as follows in the 90 patients completing the study. On the Webster scale, tremor fell from 1.7 to 1 (-41%, P less than 0.001), bradykinesia from 1.5 to 0.8 (-47%, P less than 0.001) and rigidity from 1.3 to 0.9 (-31%, P less than 0.001); on the specific scale, rest tremor decreased in daily duration and amplitude from 3.9 to 2.4 (-39%, P less than 0.001) and from 2.9 to 2.1 (-35%, P less than 0.001), respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)