In a nutshell
This study investigated the effectiveness of safinamide (Xadago) in the treatment of patients with Parkinson's disease in a real-life clinical practice. Researchers suggested that safinamide improves the outcomes of the treatment of these patients.
Some background
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic disease that affects the brain cells. These cells lose their abilities and begin to die causing symptoms such as muscle weakness and tremors. The standard treatment for this condition is levodopa. However, levodopa is associated with long-term side effects such as wearing-off symptoms. Wearing-off is a change in the levodopa effectiveness between doses. The PD symptoms come back, sometimes worst, before the next dose of levodopa.
Prior studies showed that safinamide improves the wearing-off times of these patients. However, the role of safinamide in a combined treatment with levodopa is not clear.
Methods & findings
This study included information about 178 patients with PD. These patients received safinamide combined with levodopa. The motor and non-motor symptoms were evaluated.
76.4% of these patients had improvements in movement symptoms and 26.2% in mental symptoms.
The most common side effects were gastrointestinal (13 patients), confusion (8), walking instability (7) and wearing-off symptoms (2). 7 patients (3.3%) showed reduced wearing-off symptoms and 14 (6.6%) showed a mild worsening of these effects.
The bottom line
This study concluded that safinamide might be a good treatment option in addition to levodopa for patients with PD.
The fine print
This study was based on medical records. Some information might have been missing. More research is needed for stronger evidence.
Published By :
Brain sciences
Date :
Oct 11, 2019
