Drug-induced movement disorders (DIMDs) form an important subgroup of secondary movement disorders, which despite conferring a significant iatrogenic burden, tend to be under-recognized and inappropriately managed.

We aimed to look into phenomenology, predictors of reversibility, and its impact on the quality of life of DIMD patients.

We conducted the study in the Department of Neurology at a tertiary-care centre in India. The institutional ethics-committee approved the study. We assessed 55-consecutive DIMD patients at presentation to our movement disorder clinic. Subsequently, they followed up to evaluate improvement in severity-scales (UPDRS, UDRS, BARS, AIMS) and quality of life (EuroQol-5D-5L). Wilcoxan-signed-rank test compared the scales at presentation and follow-up. Binary-logistic-regrerssion revealed the independent predictors of reversibility.

Fourteen patients (25.45%) had acute-subacute DIMD and 41 (74.55%) had tardive DIMD. Tardive-DIMD occurred more commonly in the elderly (age 50.73±16.92 years, p<0.001). Drug-induced-Parkinsonism (DIP) was the most common MD, followed by tardivedyskinesia. Risperidone and levosulpiride were the commonest culprit drugs. Patients in both the groups showed a statistically significant response to drug-dose reduction /withdrawal based on follow-up assessment on clinical-rating-scales and quality of life scores (EQ-5D-5L). DIMD was reversible in 71.42% of acute-subacute DIMD and 24.40% of patients with chronic DIMD (p=0.001). Binary-logistic-regression analysis showed acute-subacute DIMDs and DIP as independent predictors of reversibility.

DIP is the commonest and often reversible drug-induced movement disorder. Levosulpiride is notorious for causing DIMD in the elderly, requiring strict pharmacovigilance.

Pramipexole is a dopaminergic agonist used in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and restless leg syndrome. Although there is a lack of pharmacological options to treat drug-induced parkinsonism, not many studies have been made on the use of pramipexole in its management. There is also evidence on pramipexole effectiveness on major depressive episodes, particularly for bipolar and treatment-resistant depression.

To describe a case of drug-induced parkinsonism treated with pramipexole in a complex patient with bipolar disorder type I and obsessive-compulsive disorder, long-term treated with antipsychotics and valproate.

We present the case of a 51-year-old woman admitted in our psychiatric inpatient unit mainly to treat a bipolar depression. She also presented a parkinsonian syndrome, and a neurological study was conducted. As a negative DaTSCAN concluded its cause to be pharmacological, we decided to stop lurasidone and initiated pramipexole.

Guidelines suggest that drug-induced parkinsonism should be managed by discontinuing causative drugs or switching to another agent. However, we decided to use pramipexole with the aim of not only treating the parkinsonian syndrome but helping manage the depressive episode. We observed a remission of the depressive symptoms and an improvement in the parkinsonian symptoms.

Although the best way to treat drug-induced parkinsonism is to avoid its causative agents, in clinical practice it is not always possible as some patients have resistant and complex psychiatric syndromes. We suggest considering pramipexole in its management, especially when dealing with a patient with a comorbid unipolar or bipolar depression. Further research is necessary to clarify its utility.

No significant relationships.