Karin Gmitterová, Ján Benetin, Zuzana Račková, Andrea Barčíková
Ropinirole has bean proved to be effective in early and advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients by several controlled clinical trials. Clinical prospective study was performed to evaluate its efficacy and tolerability in routine clinical practice. 268 patients with PD were followed up in 48 outpatient departments after introduction of ropinirol to their PD therapy. Efficacy of ropinirole was evaluated by UPDRS III and Schwab-England (Sch-E) scales. During the study adverse reactions were recorded as well as doses of ropinirole and levodopa and other antiparkinsonian medication. Mean age of this PD population was 69 (43 - 86). Mean duration of follow up period was 35 (4 - 52) weeks. Mean dose of levodopa at the beginning of follow up was 521 mg/day, at the end it was 364 mg/day. Improvement of UPDRS III was from 18.3 up to 11.8 in early PD patients and from 30.9 up to 20.7 in advanced PD patients. Improvement of Sch-E was also registered by a neurologist and patients as well. Adverse reactions were overall rare. The most common of them were gastrointestinal complaints 16 %, hallucinations 8 %, somnolence 6 %, insomnia 4 %, and depression 4 %. In advanced PD patients dystonia was present before introduction of ropinirole in 31 % of patients. Under stable ropinirole dose a reduction of levodopa dyskinesias decreases in 24.6 % of patients and increases in 5.1 %. Only in 8 cases ropinirole was withdrawn due to adverse reactions and another 4 patients preliminary stopped follow up because of insufficient collaboration. Conclusions: Study suggested that ropinirole is effective and valuable medication in early PD patient in monotherapy as well as in advanced Parkinson’s disease as add-on therapy to levodopa. Ropinirole was well tolerated. Overall frequency of adverse reactions reported by neurologists in outpatient departments was markedly lower than the one reported in phase III controlled clinical trials.