Objective: This study was to compare zonisamide and other anti-PD drugs by analyzing their associations with the incidence of PD-relevant symptoms.

Background: Patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) experience various symptoms related to the disease progression and the medication. Few large-scale studies have investigated the associations between zonisamide and these symptoms.

Method: This was a cohort study based on claims data from Diagnosis Procedure Combination hospitals between 2008 and 2014 in Japan. Patients were included in the cohort if they were diagnosed with PD, aged ≥40 years, and were prescribed anti-PD drugs from the same single class without switching to/combination use with other classes excepting levodopa. The outcomes were the incidence of PD-relevant symptoms from the following categories; mental/psychiatric, autonomic nervous system, motor-related, and gastric symptoms. The associations between the incidence of these symptoms and the prescriptions of 8 different classes of anti-PD drugs were explored by the survival analysis.

Results: In the final cohort, 9,157 patients were included. The zonisamide use was significantly associated with a lower risk of dementia, insomnia, and gastric ulcers than 3 of 7 other classes without levodopa (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: There may be a potential clinical impact of zonisamide on some of the PD-relevant symptoms.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/comparison-of-zonisamide-with-non-levodopa-anti-parkinsons-disease-drugs-in-the-incidence-of-parkinsons-disease-relevant-symptoms/