To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: DG DISPATCH - AAN: Pergolide improves restless legs symptoms URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/1CF5AE.htm Doctor's Guide May 2, 2000
By Richard Robinson Special to DG News
SAN DIEGO, CA -- May 2, 2000 -- Pergolide decreases limb movements and improves sleep in restless legs syndrome (RLS), according to a study presented Monday (May 1) at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, in San Diego, CA.
Pergolide, a long-acting D1 and D2 dopamine receptor agonist, has been shown to be effective for RLS in short-term, double-blind trials.
To test its efficacy in the long-term, Karen Stiasny, MD, a neurologist at Philipps University of Marburg, in Germany, and colleagues followed patients from their double-blind trial for more than a year on open-label pergolide.
Twenty-two out of 28 eligible patients participatedin the trial. After a mean follow-up of 426 days, patients showed persistent improvement of better than 66 percent on the periodic limb movement index during both sleep and wakefulness compared to the pre-treatment baseline. They also showed significant improvements in total sleep time, sleep efficiency, and physician-rated clinical global impression.
Patients rated their RLS symptoms to be improved compared to baseline, falling from 4.8 to 1.7 on a 10-point severity scale (p=0.0001), and reported continued satisfaction with their sleep quality, rising from 2.4 to 5.7 on a seven-point satisfaction scale (p=0.0001). Dopaminergic side effects were controlled with domperidone in those patients who required it.
"There was a persistent, significant effect of low-dose pergolide on all primary symptoms of RLS," Dr. Stiasny concluded.
RLS is a neurologic movement disorder marked by dysesthesias and motor restlessness in both sleep and wakefulness.
The study, titled, "Long-term effect of pergolide in the treatment of restless legs syndrome," was supported by Lilly Deutschland. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1999 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of P\S\L content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of P\S\L. P\S\L shall not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this content or any other content on its sites, newsletters or other publications, nor for any decisions or actions taken in reliance on such content. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This news story was printed from *Doctor's Guide to the Internet* located at http://www.docguide.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to News Story Page This site is maintained by webmaster@pslgroup.com Please contact us with any comments, problems or bugs. All contents Copyright (c) 1998 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved.