To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: AAN: Modafinil (Provigil) Helps Sleepy Parkinson's Disease Patients Stay Awake URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/1FA886.htm Doctor's Guide May 10, 2001
By Jill Stein Special to DG News
PHILADELPHIA, PA -- May 10, 2001 -- The novel wake-promoting agent Provigil (modafinil) is an effective treatment for excessive daytime sleepiness in patients with Parkinson's disease, investigators have found.
The data were reported at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology by researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Results were drawn from a study involving 20 Parkinson's disease patients who had a baseline Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) score of greater than or equal to 10.
Subjects were randomized to treatment with modafinil 200 mg/day or placebo for three weeks, followed by a washout week and then the alternate treatment for three weeks.
The primary outcome measure was the change in ESS score.
The mean ESS score for the placebo group increased from a baseline of 16.0 to 17.0 after treatment. For the modafinil group, the mean ESS score was 17.8 at baseline and 14.4 after treatment, for an overall improvement of 25 percent, said Dr. Charles Adler, professor of neurology and co-director of the Mayo Clinic's Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center.
The patient-rated Clinical Global Impression of Change (CGI-C), a secondary outcome measure, improved by 0.75 with modafinil treatment compared with 0.15 for placebo.
Overall, seven (35 percent) patients reported definite improvement during modafinil treatment compared with one (five percent) patient during placebo treatment and two (10 percent) patients on both modafinil and placebo.
Dr. Adler said that the improvement in mean ESS score in Parkinson's disease patients during modafinil treatment is similar to that which has been reported in narcolepsy patients.
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