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Selegiline and mortality in subjects with Parkinson's disease PT Donnan, DT Steinke, C Stubbings, PG Davey, TM MacDonald Neurology 2000;55:1785-1789 Parkinson's disease increases mortality almost two-fold, according to this study, but selegiline treatment may reduce mortality to the level of unaffected age-matched controls. 97 patients with PD were identified from 4 practices in Scotland between 1989 and 1995. Mortality was tracked and compared to an age- and sex-matched sample of unaffected controls. PD patients had significantly higher risk of mortality than controls (rate ratio 1.76, 95% CI 1.11-2.81). Patients were then stratified according to anti-parkinsonian medication. Compared to controls, patients receiving levodopa/benserazide monotherapy for the duration of the follow- up had greater mortality (RR=2.45, 95% CI 1.42-4.23), while patients receiving levodopa/benserazide plus selegiline had a mortality rate not significantly different from controls (RR-0.92, 95% CI 0.37-2.31). In an accompanying editorial, J. William Langston and Caroline Tanner note, "For the practicing neurologist, this study should be reassuring...at the very least one can say that treating patients with selegiline and L-dopa is not a bad thing, and in fact may be very good thing." Copyright 2000 WE MOVE http://www.wemove.org janet paterson, an akinetic rigid subtype parkie 53 now /44 dx cd / 43 onset cd /41 dx pd / 37 onset pd TEL: 613 256 8340 SMAIL: POBox 171 Almonte Ontario K0A 1A0 Canada EMAIL: [log in to unmask] URL: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/