Efficacy of pramipexole on quality of life in patients with Parkinson’s disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Table 1 Main characteristics of the included studies in the meta-analysis

Study	Country	Total N^a	Mean age^b (SD)	Disease stage	Treatment duration	Treatment arms + background levodopa use		Follow-up duration
						Treatment arms (n)	Levodopa
Schapira, 2013 [27]	Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, UK, USA	411	62.5 (10.0)	Early PD	9 months^c	PBO (214)/PPX 1.5 mg daily (221)	None	65 weeks
Poewe, 2011 [22]	Argentina, Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Hungary, India, Japan, Malaysia, Russia, Slovakia, Taiwan, Ukraine, USA	466	61.2 (9.7)	Early PD	33 weeks	PBO (103)/PPX ER (223) or IR (213), 0.375–4.5 mg daily	None (< 3 months of levodopa, discontinued before study)	26 weeks maintenance
Schapira, 2011 [23]	Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Italy, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, UK	478	61.5 (9.9)	Advanced PD	18 weeks^d	PBO (178)/PPX ER (164) or IR (175), 0.375–4.5 mg daily	Stable, with motor fluctuations	1 week
Sampaio, 2011 [26]	N/A	309	61.6 (10.3)	Early PD	24 weeks^e	PBO (119)/pardoprunox 6 mg (112), 12 mg (115) and 12–42 mg (111) daily/PPX 1.5–4.5 mg daily (115)	None (discontinued > 3 months before baseline)	1 week
Kieburtz, 2011 [24]	USA	311	62.8 (10.2)	Early PD	12 weeks	PBO (77)/PPX 0.5 mg bid (81), 0.75 mg bid (73), 0.5 mg tid (80)	None	None
Poewe, 2007 [25]	Europe, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand	506	64.2 (9.6)	Advanced PD	16 weeks	PBO (100)/rotigotine 4–16 mg daily (201)/PPX 0.375–4.5 daily (200)	Stable, with motor fluctuations	4 weeks

^aTotal N is based on the number of available PDQ-39 data at the timepoint of interest according to the original publication
^bCalculated from total mean age using the individual ages provided for separate treatment groups
^cIn this randomised delayed-start trial, patients were randomly assigned to receive PPX or placebo for 9 months. After 9 months, the placebo group received PPX and followed-up until 15 months. For this analysis, only the first 9-month data were included, which compared PPX to placebo [27]
^dPDQ-39 data were only available at 18 weeks; the study follow-up periods include both 18 weeks and 33 weeks[23]
^eThe original publication included two randomised, controlled, double-blind studies with different follow-up periods (24 and 31 weeks). Follow-up data for PDQ-39 were only available for 24 weeks [26] bid, twice daily; ER, extended release; IR, immediate release; PBO, placebo; PD, Parkinson’s disease; PDQ-39, Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire; PPX, pramipexole; tid, three times daily

ISSN: 1471-2377