Boehringer Ingelheim reports ‘significant impact’ of depressive symptoms on Parkinson’s patients

Boehringer Ingelheim has presented the results of the European Prodest study involving 1,016 Parkinson’s disease patients at the congress of the European Federation of Neurological Societies in Brussels.

The firm reports a high incidence of depressive symptoms in Parkinson’s disease patients, while noting that 44.1 per cent of these individuals administered with antidepressants continued to experience symptoms.

In the study, 54.3 per cent of patients with a medical history of depression had a marked score in DSM IV item 1 or 2, with 66 per cent of these patients being treated with antidepressants, these figures confirming the persistence of the symptoms.

Professor Paolo Barone of the Department of Neurological Sciences at the University of Napoli-Federico II, said: “These symptoms have a significant impact on [Parkinson’s disease] patients’ quality of life, often equal in impact to that of the traditionally better known motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.”

He added that the trial results suggest that the depressive symptoms are not the results of a depressive syndrome but instead an expression of Parkinson’s disease itself, potentially suggesting new treatment approaches for the condition.

In November 2006, Boehringer Ingelheim presented study results suggesting that Mirapexin can improve motivational and depressive symptoms experienced by patients with Parkinson’s disease.