Impulse control and related disorders in parkinson’s disease: Special issues and implications

Impulse control disorders (ICDs) are a group of disorders characterized by a failure to resist an impulse or temp-tation that results in a pattern of behavior that is harmful or interferes with daily functioning. ICDs in Parkinson’s disease are associated with the use of dopamine replacement therapy, partic-ularly a class of drugs known as dopa-mine agonists. In people with Parkin-son’s disease on dopamine agonists, the prevalence of ICDs is around 14%. ICDs are challenging to diagnose and treat, and often cause significant harm to patients and their families once they occur. To help prepare clinicians to meet this challenge, the following review discusses the epidemiology and best-evidence strategies to identify and manage ICDs in Parkinson’s dis-ease.