Levodopa best as initial Parkinson’s therapy

Levodopa offers small but consistent benefits over levodopa-sparing treatments for Parkinson’s patients with newly diagnosed disease, finds a major UK study.

The trial involved over 1600 newly diagnosed patients who were randomised to levodopa, a dopamine agonist or a monoamine oxidase type B inhibitor (MAOBI).

With a median follow-up of three years, patients on levodopa scored on average 1.8 points higher on the mobility subscale of the Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire compared with the