Parkinson Platform Noord Nederland

Behavioural problems—eg, impulse control disorders, excessive and uncontrollable intake of levodopa, punding, restlessness, and disarray behaviour—are common in patients with Parkinson's disease and frequently represent a challenge for clinical management.1 Behavioural complications are associated directly with medications for Parkinson's disease (particularly dopamine agonists) and typically arise after prolonged exposure to such drugs, leading to a functional hyperdopaminergic state. Disease-related structural features of the brain (eg, the pattern of nigrostriatal dopaminergic denervation) and individual predisposing factors (eg, male sex, young age at onset) are also determinants of behavioural complications.