Abstract
The death rate of parkinsonian patients prior to the introduction of levodopa was 3 times that of the general population (6, 2). For Germany no relevant data are available. One problem of levodopa long-term treatment was that of the modification of the longevity of these patients. The hitherto published results of mortality studies are still controversial. Whereas some authors found a virtually normal death rate (2, 12), others could not demonstrate any significant change (1). However, in most studies a reduction of the rate of mortality between 1.5 — 1.9 was observed (4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11). The variability of these results partly can be explained by selection criteria with patients of different stages of the disease, different numbers of the groups, varying duration of treatment and also by methodological problems in the calculation of the death rate of the general population.
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Schneider, E., Fischer, PA., Jacobi, P., Kolb, R. (1980). Mortality in Parkinson’s disease under levodopa. In: Mertens, H.G., Przuntek, H. (eds) Pathologische Erregbarkeit des Nervensystems und ihre Behandlung. Verhandlungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurologie, vol 1. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-09220-0_36
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-09220-0_36
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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