Parkinson's disease drug safe for elderly patients

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Contrary to what has been seen with other antiparkinson drugs, rasagiline (Agilect, Azilect) is not more likely to cause side effects in older patients than it is in younger ones, according to a new report. For this reason, special drug monitoring in elderly patients is probably not needed.

Parkinson's disease is caused by the death of nerve cells in the brain that produce a chemical called dopamine. This deficiency causes a host of movement problems, but thinking ability remains largely intact. Although there is no cure for the disease, a number of medical and surgical treatments have been shown to improve symptoms.

The findings, which appear in the journal Neurology, are based on an analysis of data from two studies that investigated the drug, one as the sole therapy (TEMPO) and the other in combination with levodopa (PRESTO).

To evaluate possible age-related side effects, Dr. Christopher G. Goetz, from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, and colleagues divided the patients into groups: younger than 70 years old and 70 years or older. Of the 404 patients in TEMPO, 108 were in the older group; in PRESTO, 129 of 472 were in the older group.

Rasagiline was more often linked to adverse effects when used with levodopa rather than when used alone. While a few side effects were more common in older patients, such as very low blood pressure and hallucinations, the overall analysis did not show the drug to be more risky in this age group.

"Based on the previously demonstrated efficacy of rasagiline and the low (rate) of adverse events regardless of age, we view rasagiline as a treatment likely to have wide application in Parkinson's disease," the authors conclude.

SOURCE: Neurology, May 9, 2006.