The characteristics and treatment patterns of patients with Parkinson’s disease in the United States and United Kingdom: A retrospective cohort study

OBJECTIVES: The objective of the study was to describe treatment patterns in patients newly diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (PD) in the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK). METHODS: This retrospective cohort study used the US IBM MarketScan database (2012–2017) and the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) (2004–2015) database to describe treatment patterns in incident PD cases. Patients fulfilling the case definition of PD, ≥30 years, with a 2-year baseline period prior to the index date (date of PD diagnosis), and ≥90 days of follow-up were included in the study. Treatment was classified as monotherapy (one PD medication for ≥60 continuous days), polytherapy (at least two PD medications concurrently for ≥60 days), or untreated (no PD medication prescription). Treatment patterns described included type of medication, duration and outcome of treatment. RESULTS: There were 11,280 patients in IBM MarketScan and 7775 patients in CPRD who fulfilled the study criteria. The proportion of treated patients was 62.4% (US) and 78.6% (UK). The majority of patients were prescribed monotherapy as first-line treatment (US: 85.2%, UK: 68.5%). Levodopa was the most frequently prescribed first-line medication (US: 70.1%, UK: 29.0%). There were 57.9% in the US and 23.8% in the UK who remained on the first monotherapy treatment till the end of the study. CONCLUSION: The study has highlighted the current treatment practices in the US and UK, and underscored differences in the two regions impacted by treatment policies and guidelines.