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The effect of pregnancy in Parkinson's disease. Pregnancy in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) is a rare occurrence. Previous reports based on retrospective analysis suggest that pregnancy may have a deleterious effect on PD. We describe the effects of pregnancy on the symptomatology of a 33-year-old woman with PD using quantitative neurologic and quality-of-life scales prepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum. During her pregnancy, she was only treated with carbidopa/levodopa. The pregnancy resulted in a normal full-term vaginal delivery of a healthy infant. Significant worsening of this patient's motor symptoms occurred during pregnancy without return to baseline at 15 months postpartum. Pregnancy may exacerbate PD and may have a long-term negative impact on the course of the illness. This report may assist physicians in the counseling of patients with young-onset PD who wish to consider pregnancy. Mov Disord 2000 Jan;15(1):132-5 Shulman LM, Minagar A, Weiner WJ Department of Neurology, University of Miami School of Medicine, Florida 33136, USA. PMID: 10634252, UI: 20097718 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/ janet paterson 52 now / 41 dx / 37 onset a new voice: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/ 613 256 8340 PO Box 171 Almonte Ontario Canada K0A 1A0