Parkinson Drug Linked to Heart Disease
(NY, Reuters Health, 1/24/03)

Dr. Ramon Diaz-Arrastia of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical in Dallas, and team, studied 235 patients with Parkinson's disease by assessing blood levels of homocysteine and identifying people who had experienced heart attacks, heart surgery and/or angioplasty. The scientists found that study participants who had been treated with levodopa, a synthetic precursor of dopamine, tended to have higher homocysteine levels than those who had never taken this drug. Furthermore, elevated homocysteine is associated with increased risk of both heart disease and dementia. Since one-third of Parkinson's sufferers develop dementia, these findings raise the possibility that this drug may heighten the patient's susceptibility to both dementia and cardiac problems.