The next quantum step forward in the treatment of Parkinson's disease will be the development of therapies which slow the progression of the disease. Testing of new agents will require recruitment of recently diagnosed Parkinson's disease subjects and retention of them in therapeutic trials lasting five to ten years. The extensive experience of the Oregon Health & Science University Parkinson Center of Oregon in conducting clinical trials, specifically long trials in recently diagnosed subjects, supports our inclusion in a cooperative multicenter trial of neruoprotective agents for Parkinson's disease. We also propose a number of means by which we may increase enrollment of de novo subjects, including subjects from minority groups, and retain them in the study. In addition, long-term trials of neuroprotective agents in early Parkinson's disease offer a unique opportunity to study the natural history of family care giving, assess caregiver strain as an outcome variable for new therapeutics and identify potential interventions to reduce care giving strain. These studies will extend and expand the preliminary studies of family care giving in Parkinson's disease we have done in the Parkinson Study Group DATATOP cohort.
| Wills, Anne-Marie A; Elm, Jordan J; Ye, Rong et al. (2016) Cognitive function in 1736 participants in NINDS Exploratory Trials in PD Long-term Study-1. Parkinsonism Relat Disord 33:127-133 |
| Wills, Anne-Marie A; Pérez, Adriana; Wang, Jue et al. (2016) Association Between Change in Body Mass Index, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale Scores, and Survival Among Persons With Parkinson Disease: Secondary Analysis of Longitudinal Data From NINDS Exploratory Trials in Parkinson Disease Long-term Study 1 JAMA Neurol 73:321-8 |
| Elm, Jordan J; NINDS NET-PD Investigators (2012) Design innovations and baseline findings in a long-term Parkinson's trial: the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Exploratory Trials in Parkinson's Disease Long-Term Study-1. Mov Disord 27:1513-21 |
