National Trends of Antiparkinsonism Treatment in Taiwan: 2004–2011

Table 2

Antiparkinsonism drug prescription patterns by age groups (<60 versus ≥60 years) in Taiwan from 2004 to 2011.

	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	p for trend
Age < 60 years
Number of prescriptions	22,628	27,395	31,167	34,783	37,876	39,810	41,431	41,225	<0.0001
Monotherapy
Levodopa	20.96	23.76	23.64	23.22	21.48	22.00	22.81	23.17	0.79
Dopamine agonist	2.25	2.50	2.11	2.50	3.44	3.90	4.66	4.85	0.0006
Others	7.32	6.73	7.12	6.58	6.84	5.88	5.10	7.25	0.25
Combination therapy
Levodopa + dopamine agonist	10.73	10.59	10.54	10.99	12.31	13.01	15.27	15.50	0.0009
Levodopa + others	32.10	29.99	29.77	28.25	26.65	24.95	20.36	21.51	<0.0001
Dopamine agonist + others	3.34	3.17	3.21	3.56	4.28	4.43	4.92	4.58	0.001
Levodopa + dopamine agonist + others	23.30	23.25	23.61	24.91	25.00	25.83	26.89	23.13	0.21
Age ≥ 60 years
Number of prescriptions	164,509	211,848	251,103	286,325	317,343	343,363	371,320	373,362	<0.0001
Monotherapy
Levodopa	39.64	43.41	44.04	43.72	44.19	44.87	46.66	46.48	0.003
Dopamine agonist	1.28	1.23	1.24	1.45	1.67	2.02	2.27	2.68	0.0004
Others	6.10	6.31	6.36	6.23	5.92	5.86	5.17	6.56	0.48
Combination therapy
Levodopa + dopamine agonist	11.14	9.62	9.04	9.43	10.21	11.10	12.19	12.15	0.09
Levodopa + others	29.55	28.91	29.10	28.60	27.45	25.51	23.12	21.70	0.0006
Dopamine agonist + others	0.65	0.56	0.58	0.60	0.63	0.71	0.70	0.87	0.02
Levodopa + dopamine agonist + others	11.64	9.96	9.66	9.97	9.92	9.92	9.88	9.57	0.09

Levodopa alone and combination of levodopa and dopa-decarboxylase inhibitor.
Others include amantadine, selegiline, rasagiline, and entacapone.