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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2020 Jul;48(7):300060520922449.
doi: 10.1177/0300060520922449.

Efficacy of pramipexole combined with levodopa for Parkinson's disease treatment and their effects on QOL and serum TNF- α levels

Jinzhong Huang  1 , Wei Hong  1 , Zhilong Yang  1 , Jian Ding  1 , Yi Ren  1
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Efficacy of pramipexole combined with levodopa for Parkinson's disease treatment and their effects on QOL and serum TNF- α levels

Jinzhong Huang et al. J Int Med Res. 2020 Jul.

Retraction in

  • Retraction Notice.
    [No authors listed] [No authors listed] J Int Med Res. 2024 Jan;52(1):3000605241228165. doi: 10.1177/03000605241228165. J Int Med Res. 2024. PMID: 38217421 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the efficacy of combining the dopamine receptor agonist pramipexole with levodopa for Parkinson's disease (PD) treatment and to measure their effects on quality of life and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α levels in PD patients.

Basic procedure: In total, 160 PD patients who were admitted to our hospital were equally randomized into a control treatment group (levodopa alone) and the study group (pramipexole combined with levodopa). Both groups were treated for 12 weeks.

Findings: After treatment, scores from the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scales (1-3), the Hamilton Depression Scale, and the Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39) were significantly decreased in both groups, whereas Mini-Mental State Examination scores were significantly increased. After treatment, the study group had significantly lower scores for all scales except the Mini-Mental State Examination, for which those who received combined treatment had significantly higher scores than the control group. The incidence of adverse reactions was significantly lower in the study group than in the control group. Furthermore, after treatment, serum TNF-α levels were significantly decreased in both groups compared with pre-treatment levels.

Conclusion: Pramipexole combined with levodopa relieved PD symptoms and improved the quality of life of PD patients, potentially by suppressing serum TNF-α levels.

Keywords: Parkinson’s disease; dopamine receptor agonist; levodopa; pramipexole; quality of life; tumor necrosis factor-α.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Comparison of serum TNF-α levels before and after treatment in each group. *P < 0.05 compared with values obtained before treatment within the group; #P < 0.05 compared with the control group. TNF- α, tumor necrosis factor- α.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Correlation between serum TNF-α levels with UPDRS1 (a), UPDRS2 (b), and UPDRS3 (c) scores after treatment in the study group. TNF- α, tumor necrosis factor- α; UPDRS, Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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