The effect of pregnancy in Parkinson's disease

Pregnancy in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) is a rare occurrence. P revious reports based on retrospective analysis suggest that pregnancy may have a deleterious effect on PD. We describe the effects of pregnancy on th e symptomatology of a 33-year-old woman with PD using quantitative neurolog ic and quality-of-life scales prepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum. Durin g her pregnancy, she was only treated with carbidopa/levodopa. The pregnanc y resulted in a normal full-term vaginal delivery of a healthy infant. Sign ificant worsening of this patient's motor symptoms occurred during pregnanc y without return to baseline at 15 months postpartum. Pregnancy may exacerb ate PD and may have a long-term negative impact on the course of the illnes s. this report may assist physicians in the counseling of patients with you ng-onset PD who wish to consider pregnancy.