Long‐Acting Versus Standard Non‐Ergot D opamine Agonists in P arkinson's Disease: A Meta‐Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Summary Aims To evaluate the efficacy, tolerability, and safety of long‐acting versus standard non‐ergot dopamine agonists ( NEDA s) in P arkinson's disease ( PD ), we performed a meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials ( RCT s). Materials and methods The P ub M ed, EMBASE , C ochrane L ibrary databases, and W eb of K nowledge were searched up to N ovember 20th 2013. The pooled weighted mean differences ( WMD s) and relative risks ( RR s) with 95% confidence intervals ( CI s) were calculated. Results Eight large‐scale RCT s, involving 2402 patients, were included in this meta‐analysis. Compared with the standard NEDA s, long‐acting NEDA s exhibited similar improvements in U nified P arkinson's D isease R ating S cale activities of daily living ( ADL ) score ( WMD 0.09, 95% CI −0.33 to 0.50), motor score ( WMD −0.35, 95% CI –1.60 to 0.90), and “off” time ( WMD 0.18, 95% CI −0.14 to 0.50). No differences were found in overall withdrawals ( RR 1.11, 95% CI 0.94 to 1.32), withdrawals due to adverse events ( RR 1.19, 95% CI 0.91 to 1.56), or the ten commonly reported adverse events between the two formulations. Conclusions Our meta‐analysis showed long‐acting NEDA s were noninferior to standard NEDA s in efficacy, tolerability, and safety in the treatment of PD .