Mayo Clinic researchers tie Parkinson's drugs to impulse control problems

Researchers at the USA’s Mayo Clinic have found that dopamine agonists used in treating Parkinson’s disease result in impulse control disorders in as many as 22 percent of patients. Mayo Clinic first reported on this topic in 2005. The follow-up study was published online in the February 2011 issue of Parkinsonism and Related Disorders.

Dopamine agonists, a class of drugs that include pramipexole (Boehringer Ingelheim’s Mirapex) and ropinirole (Requip, from GlaxoSmithKline), are commonly used to treat Parkinson’s disease. The drugs stimulate the brain’s limbic circuits, which are thought to be pathways for emotional, reward and hedonistic behaviors. The medications have been linked to such impulse control disorders as pathological gambling and hypersexuality, as well as to compulsive behaviors such as binge eating, spending, computer use or “hobbying.”

The researchers reviewed Parkinson’s disease patients’ records over a recent two-year period, says Anhar Hassan, a neurology fellow at Mayo Clinic and lead investigator on the study.