[Stitcher]

Study finds clues to Parkinson's drug gambling


Reuters
Mon Feb 12, 2007 4:04pm ET
http://today.reuters.com/news/articl...S-GAMBLING.xml

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Parkinson's disease victims who become compulsive gamblers as a result of the drugs they take share some common traits including age and alcohol use, a study said on Monday.

The finding, if confirmed by more research, may help doctors identify which patients are at high risk for the drug side effect, the report in the Archives of Neurology said.

Compulsive gambling is one of several well-documented reactions to dopamine drugs, which are used to treat Parkinson's. Others are hypersexuality, compulsive shopping and binge eating.

The study from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland, looked at 63 Parkinson's patients, 21 with pathological gambling habits after taking dopamine drugs and another 42 who did not develop the reaction after using the drugs.

They were checked at a clinic in Toronto, Canada, between June 2003 and October 2005.

The gamblers were likely to be younger when they developed the disease, have a family or personal history involving alcohol abuse and have a personality trait called novelty seeking -- meaning they tended to be impulsive, quick-tempered and easily bored, among other things.

Previous studies have shown that the gambling side effect is unrelated to how big the drug dose was, an indication that some other underlying traits trigger the response, the study said.

"Screening for such features and advising those at higher risk may be warranted," the report concluded.

[Stitcher]

Characteristics of increased risk for compulsive gambling linked to Parkinson's disease medications

Public release date: 12-Feb-2007
Contact: Natalie Frazin
301-496-5924
JAMA and Archives Journals
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...-coi020807.php

Patients with Parkinson's disease who are younger when they develop the condition, have a personality trait known as novelty-seeking or whose personal or family history includes alcohol abuse may be more likely to develop pathological gambling as a side effect of medications used to treat their condition, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Behaviors associated with impulse control—including compulsive shopping, hypersexuality, binge eating and pathological gambling—have been associated with dopamine agonists, medications used to treat Parkinson's disease. In studies examining the relationship between dopamine agonists and compulsive gambling, the likelihood of gambling problems was unrelated to the medication dosage. This suggests that an underlying trait may interact with the drugs and make an individual more vulnerable to this adverse effect.

Valerie Voon, M.D., National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Bethesda, Md., and colleagues compared the characteristics of 21 patients with Parkinson's disease who developed pathological gambling habits after beginning to take dopamine agonists with 42 patients with Parkinson's disease who did not develop compulsive behaviors. The participants, who all visited a clinic in Toronto, Canada, between June 2003 and October 2005, were examined by neurologists and completed assessment scales that measured their levels of impulsivity, substance abuse, mood and anxiety disorders. An additional inventory measured the extent to which the patients displayed novelty-seeking traits, characterized by impulsive and risk-taking behavior and excitement in response to new experiences.

"In keeping with our hypothesis, patients with Parkinson's disease who developed pathological gambling when receiving dopamine agonists had a younger age at Parkinson's disease onset, higher novelty-seeking scores, a personal or immediate family history of alcohol use disorders and impaired planning on an impulsivity scale," the authors write. "A robust association was found with medication-induced mania [a psychiatric disorder involving excessive physical and mental activity and impulsive behavior]." Pathological gambling was also weakly linked to younger age, Parkinson's disease that began in the brain's left hemisphere and a high score on a scale measuring the impulsiveness of behaviors.

"Screening for such features and advising those at higher risk may be warranted," the authors conclude.

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(Arch Neurol. 2007;64:212-216. Available pre-embargo to the media at www.jamamedia.org.)

[one n dona]

I have done my own research on people I know with pd and it seems that anyone with a type a personality and the background of anything in a compulsive personality, and this includes people who would never have gambled a penny before pd have a lot of urges that dont make any sense to otheres who have know these people for years, gambling, hypersexuality. obsseiffe eating of one particle thing or something that seems to make sense as a different version of the compulsive food item. Having a set routine that doesnt like to be messed with are all things I've noticed and taken note of from my own pd friends requip was not one of the drugs that was supposed to do this but is now be tooted as the drug for restless leg syndrome and many of these are in the side effects are a so you really have to balance the good and the bad of some of these meds and I think the big compaines could do a lot better than they are doing knowing these side effects are something most pd people could live without