Impulse control disorders and dopamine agonists in Parkinson’s disease
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Vulnerability factors associated with Impulse control disorders in Parkinson’s disease; a case-control study
IRAS ID
196289
Contact name
Natalie Garratt
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 25 days
Research summary
Impulse control disorders (ICDs) are a class of psychiatric disorders characterised by impulsivity. Impulsivity is defined as a predisposition to rapid, unplanned reactions to internal or external stimuli without regard to the negative consequences of these reactions to the impulsive individual or to others (Grant et al., 2005). ICDs have been observed in Parkinson’s disease (PD) and have been established to be linked to the effects of dopaminergic medications used to treat the disease condition i.e. Parkinson’s disease (PD). ICDs that have been described in PD include behaviours such as compulsive sexual behaviour, gambling, compulsive buying and binge eating. Previously, these behaviours were regarded as “dopamine dysregulation syndrome” (DDS) and this term also included the addictive use of levodopa and repetitive pointless motor activity. However, more recently, only the former four phenomena mentioned above have been separated out as ICDs.
Though ICDs are a heterogeneous set of behaviours they all have in common, the reward-seeking quality attributable to dopamine. Despite the links established between ICDs and dopaminergic medications, these medications still form the mainstay of pharmacological treatment for PD. That said, not all PD patients exposed to dopaminergic medications develop ICDs which would suggest that apart from the effect of dopaminergic medications there are other factors that contribute to the occurrence of ICDs in PD patients. At present, it remains unclear whether the onset of ICDs in PD is a direct result of treatment initiation (or increase) or a consequence of prolonged dopaminergic therapy. Furthermore, little is known about the degree to which individual differences in PD symptomatology, age at disease onset, gender, personality, and psychiatric history influence the development of ICDs in PD. The aim of this study is to identify vulnerability factors that may contribute to the development of ICDs in PD patients exposed to dopaminergic medications.
REC name
West Midlands - Solihull Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/WM/0477
Date of REC Opinion
21 Nov 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion