Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-31T14:30:41.094Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dopa Dose-Dependent Sexual Deviation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

N. P. Quinn ,
A. E. Lang ,
C. D. Marsden ,
J. D. Parkes  and
B. Toone
N. P. Quinn
Affiliation:
King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 9RS
A. E. Lang
Affiliation:
University Department of Neurology, Institute of Psychiatry and King's College Hospital Medical School
C. D. Marsden
Affiliation:
University Department of Neurology, Institute of Psychiatry and King's College Hospital Medical School
J. D. Parkes
Affiliation:
University Department of Neurology, Institute of Psychiatry and King's College Hospital Medical School
B. Toone
Affiliation:
The Maudsley and King's College Hospitals
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Changes in sexual behaviour in patients with Parkinson's disease treated with levodopa are well recognized. Barbeau (1969) was the first to draw attention to “a clear-cut visually evident increase in libido” occurring in at least four out of 62 male parkinsonian patients treated with levodopa. Hyyppa et al (1970) reported that among 41 treated patients 10 experienced an increase of libido. De Ajuriaguerra et al (1972) reported that 29 out of 202 treated patients spontaneously told the authors of their satisfaction in respect of sexual behaviour. They commented “despite a few complaints from their spouses we do not believe there are any grounds to support the hypothesis of hypersexuality, but rather a more or less complete return to normal”. Similarly, Duvoisin and Yahr (1972) found that 8 per cent of a total of 283 patients reported an increase in sexual activity that “generally appeared to represent a partial return towards normalcy”. However, hypersexuality during levodopa therapy in parkinsonian patients was seen in senile dements, or as a feature of a more generalized disturbance, e.g. hypomanic behaviour. The subsequent experience of other authors (Bowers et al, 1971; Shapiro, 1973; Ballivet et al, 1973) has left no doubt that frankly hypersexual behaviour, albeit uncommon, may be provoked by levodopa treatment. Goodwin (1971) reviewed the literature on 908 patients and found an incidence of 0.9 per cent and Shapiro (1973) concurred, with an incidence in the region of 1 per cent of treated patients. Bowers et al (1971) reported 7 out of 19 patients on levodopa who indicated an activation of sexual behaviour on a combined scale of feeling and performance at some time during levodopa therapy. They divided the subjects into three groups: firstly patients who showed increased sexual drive apparently independent of motor improvement, secondly others whose sexual drive increased proportionately with their mobility, and thirdly those who developed hypersexual behaviour as part of an acute brain syndrome with an agitated and confused state.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 142 , Issue 3 , March 1983 , pp. 296 - 298
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

de Ajuriaguerra, J., Constantinides, J., Eisenring, , Yanniotis, J. J., & Tissot, R. (1972) Behaviour disorders and L-dopa therapy in Parkinson's syndrome. in Parkinson's Disease (Proceedings of the IVth International Symposium) (ed. Siegfried, J.). Bern: Hans Huber.Google Scholar
Ballivet, J., Marin, A. & Gisselman, A. (1973) Aspects de l'hypersexualité observée chez le Parkinsonien lors du traitment par la L-dopa. Annales Medicopsychologiques, 2, 515–22.Google Scholar
Barbeu, A. (1969) L-dopa therapy in Parkinson's disease: A critical review of 9 years' experience. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 101, 59–68.Google Scholar
Bowers, M. B., Van Woert, M. & Davis, L. (1971) Sexual behaviour during L-dopa treatment for Parkinsonism. Americal Journal of Psychiatry, 127, 1691–3.Google ScholarPubMed
Dahlstrom, A. & Fuxe, K. (1965) Evidence for the existence of monoamine neurons in the nervous system. IV. Distribution of monoamine nerve terminals in the central nervous system. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica (Suppl.) 247, 1–85.Google Scholar
Duvoisin, R. C. & Yahr, M. D. (1972) Behavioural abnormalities occurring in Parkinsonism during treatment with L-dopa. in L-Dopa and Behaviour (ed. S. Malitz). New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Goodwin, F. K. (1971) Psychiatric side effects of levodopa in man. Journal of the American Medical Association, 218, 1915–19.Google Scholar
Gosselin, C. & Wilson, G. (1980) Sexual Variations, pp. 115–118. London: Faber & Faber.Google Scholar
Hyyppa, M., Rinne, U. K. & Sonninen, V. (1970) The activating effect of L-dopa treatment on sexual function and its experimental background. Acta Neurologica Scandinavica (Suppl.) 43, 223–4.Google Scholar
Murphy, D. L. Brodie, H. K. H., Goodwin, F. K. & Bunney, W. E. (1971) Regular induction of hypomania by L-dopa in “bipolar” manic-depressive patients. Nature, 229, 135–6.Google Scholar
O'Brien, C. P. Di Giacomo, J. N., Fahn, S., Schwarz, G. A. (1971) Mental effects of high-dosage levodopa. Archives of General Psychiatry, 24, 61–3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shapiro, S. K. (1973) Hypersexual behaviour complicating levodopa (L-dopa) therapy. Minnesota Medicine, 56, 58–9.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.