The effect of pregnancy in Parkinson's disease

✍ Scribed by Lisa M. Shulman; Alireza Minagar; William J. Weiner

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 23 KB
• Volume: 15
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-3185
• DOI: 10.1002/1531-8257(200001)15:1<132::aid-mds1020>3.0.co;2-c

✦ Synopsis

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.