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Medications that increase the function of the neurotransmitter dopamine are the primary treatment for Parkinson disease (PD). Dopamine’s activity in the nucleus accumbens forms the basis for the reward system in the brain, and alterations in this system have been linked to addiction and impulse-control problems. These authors report a case series involving pathological gambling that was related temporally to treatment with dopamine agonists for PD.
In the movement disorders clinic at Mayo Clinic, from 2002 to 2004, the authors found 11 patients who had PD responsive to levodopa or to dopamine agonists and who met DSM-IV-TR criteria for pathological gambling. All patients were taking a dopamine agonist, which in most cases was added to levodo…