Parkinson’s Disease Does Not Increase Risk of Gambling, Shopping Addiction

New research has found that Parkinson’s disease itself does not increase the risk of impulse control problems such as compulsive gambling and shopping that have been seen in people taking certain drugs for Parkinson’s disease. Study results appear in the Jan. 8, 2013, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

“We’ve known for some time that these behaviors are more common in people taking certain Parkinson’s medications, but we haven’t known if the disease itself leads to an increased risk of these behaviors,” says study author Daniel Weintraub, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia. For more information, click here to read the full release.