Levodopa/carbidopa/entacapone for the treatment of early Parkinson's disease: a meta-analysis

Neurol Sci. 2020 Aug;41(8):2045-2054. doi: 10.1007/s10072-020-04303-x. Epub 2020 Mar 11.

Abstract

Treatment of Parkinson's disease with levodopa/carbidopa/entacapone (LCE) has been studied for a long time. However, the efficacy and safety of LCE in the treatment of early Parkinson's disease (PD) still need to be assessed. Our objective was to do a meta-analysis of relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the efficacy and safety of LCE for early PD. PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and the Web of Science were searched for RCTs with "levodopa/carbidopa/entacapone" and "Parkinson's disease" as keywords. The search period was from inception to October 2018. The quality of included studies was strictly evaluated. We evaluated the quality of included studies strictly and six studies met all inclusion criteria. The results showed that LCE could improve activities of daily living and motor function in PD patients. However, LCE therapy was associated with higher risks of total AEs and single AEs compared with traditional therapy.

Keywords: Adverse events; Early Parkinson’s disease; Levodopa/carbidopa/entacapone; Treatment of Parkinson’s disease.

Publication types

  • Meta-Analysis
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Antiparkinson Agents / therapeutic use
  • Carbidopa* / therapeutic use
  • Catechols
  • Drug Combinations
  • Humans
  • Levodopa / therapeutic use
  • Nitriles
  • Parkinson Disease* / drug therapy

Substances

  • Antiparkinson Agents
  • Catechols
  • Drug Combinations
  • Nitriles
  • Levodopa
  • entacapone
  • Carbidopa