Abstract for presentation at The Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists Annual Scientific Meeting 2007

Purpose: To investigate whether treatment with levodopa/carbidopa/entacapone when compared to levodopa/carbidopa improves quality of life in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients with no or minimal, non-disabling motor fluctuations.
Methods: A multi-center, randomized, double-blind study. 184 patients on 3-4 equal doses of 100/25-200/50mg levodopa/carbidopa or levodopa/benserazide, 0-3 hours of non-disabling OFF time over a 48 hour period and no dyskinesia were randomized to levodopa/carbidopa/entacapone or levodopa/carbidopa treatment for 12 weeks. The primary outcome measure was quality of life as assessed by the PDQ-8. Secondary outcome measures were the UPDRS parts I-IV, and the Wearing Off Card.
Results: Treatment with levodopa/carbidopa/entacapone resulted in significantly greater improvements in PDQ-8 scores compared to treatment with levodopa/carbidopa (mean difference 1.4 points, p =0.021). Statistically significant improvements were seen in both motor and non-motor domains (depression, personal relationships, communication, stigma, all p<0.05; dressing p= 0.056). Patients randomized to levodopa/carbidopa/entacapone also showed significantly greater improvement in UPDRS part II scores (p =0.032) with UPDRS part III scores showing borderline significance. Differences in UPDRS parts I and IV and Wearing Off Card scores were not significant.
Conclusions: Treatment with levodopa/carbidopa/entacapone results in improved quality of life compared with levodopa/carbidopa in PD patients with mild or minimal, non-disabling motor fluctuations.