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The tolerability, safety and efficacy of safinamide in elderly Parkinson’s disease patients: a retrospective study

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Abstract

Safinamide (SF) is a third-generation monoamine-oxidase-B inhibitor that proved efficacy as add-on to levodopa in fluctuating Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. Despite the high prevalence of complicated PD in older population, the data on the tolerability, safety and efficacy of SF in elderly patients are rather poor. Here we studied retrospectively the consequences of add-on with SF in PD patients older than 65 years. Fifty-three fluctuating PD patients were included (30 subjects aged between 65 and 75 years, the remaining 23 subjects aged > 75 years). Patients were treated with either 50 (n = 27) or 100 mg (n = 26) SF for at least 6 months. In all patients, fluctuations were identified by the report of a Wearing-Off-Questionnaire-19 (WOQ-19) score ≥ 3 at baseline. Add-on with SF was well tolerated and safe. Adverse events occurred in 30% of patients and led to drug discontinuation in 11% of cases. At follow-up visits, 60% of patients reported lowering of the WOQ-19 score to ≤ 2. There were no significant differences related to age or daily drug dose in tolerability, safety or efficacy. The results of this study provide evidence of the efficacy, tolerability and safety of SF in elderly PD patients.

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Funding

This was a spontaneous study.

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Author notes

  1. Domiziana Rinaldi and Edoardo Bianchini contributed equally to the work, therefore share co-first Authorship.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento Di Neuroscienze, Salute Mentale E Organi Di Senso “Sapienza, Università Di Roma, Via di Grottarossa, 1035, 00189, Roma, Italy

    Domiziana Rinaldi, Edoardo Bianchini, Michela Sforza, Marika Alborghetti, Silvia Galli, Marco Salvetti & Francesco E. Pontieri

  2. UOC Di Neurologia, Azienda Ospedaliera-Universitaria Sant’Andrea, Roma, Italy

    Domiziana Rinaldi, Edoardo Bianchini, Michela Sforza, Marika Alborghetti, Marco Salvetti, Morena Giovannelli & Francesco E. Pontieri

  3. IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Roma, Italy

    Francesco E. Pontieri

Authors
  1. Domiziana Rinaldi
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  2. Edoardo Bianchini
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  3. Michela Sforza
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  4. Marika Alborghetti
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  5. Silvia Galli
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  6. Marco Salvetti
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  7. Morena Giovannelli
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  8. Francesco E. Pontieri
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Francesco E. Pontieri.

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Conflict of interest

The authors report no conflict of interest with respect to this manuscript.

Ethics approval

Approved by the local ethical committee.

Consent to participate

Each patient signed informed consent to the retrospective study.

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Rinaldi, D., Bianchini, E., Sforza, M. et al. The tolerability, safety and efficacy of safinamide in elderly Parkinson’s disease patients: a retrospective study. Aging Clin Exp Res 33, 1689–1692 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-020-01648-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-020-01648-3

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