Multicenter study of levodopa carbidopa intestinal gel in Parkinson's disease: the Turkish experience

Abstract

Background/aim: Our purpose was to determine the efficacy of levodopa carbidopa intestinal gel LCIG in a series of Turkish patients with Parkinson's disease PD . Materials and methods: We had telephone calls with 54 patients from 11 neurology centers who were on LCIG treatment, and 44 patients or their caregivers were included in an eight-item survey between September 2015 and June 2016. The reliability and validity of the survey were evaluated with intraclass correlation coefficients for every question separately.Results: Average age of the patients were 63.48 and the duration of PD was 12.79 years. Average LCIG treatment period was 15.63 months. Percentages of the patients who reported they were `better' after LCIG treatment were as follows: 80% for time spent off, 55% for dyskinesia, 65% for tremor, 85% for gait disorder, 50% for pain, 50% for sleep disorders, 42.5% for depression, 32.5% for incontinence, and 70% for activities of daily living. Cronbach's alpha was 0.795 and the intraclass correlation coefficient was reliable for the items.Conclusion: As detected by a survey performed by telephone calls with good interrater reliability, patients with PD improve with LCIG treatment in many aspects of the disease.