Levodopa in Parkinson disease: a long-term appraisal of mortality

Mortality rates for a group of patients in a collaborative multicenter study of levodopa (Larodopa) in the treatment of parkinsonism were compared with corresponding mortality rates in the general population adjusted for age and sex distribution in accordance with that of the parkinsonian patients under study. The death rate, conservatively adjusted for dropouts among parkinsonian patients, is estimated to be approximately 33% greater than that for the general population. This is in contrast to an earlier study of Hoehn and Yahr, prior to the advent of levodopa treatment, wherein the mortality rate for parkinsonian patients was shown to be in excess of that in the general population by a factor of 2.9, or nearly 200%.