A drug used to treat Parkinson's disease may turn a small number of patients into compulsive gamblers, US researchers believe.
In a year-long study of 1,800 cases, patients taking Mirapex - a drug that helps brain cells use dopamine, an important message-carrying chemical involved in movement - were significantly more likely to develop gambling addictions.
Of the 529 patients treated with Mirapex in the study, eight developed serious gambling problems, according to a report published in the journal Neurology.
A ninth patient developed a similar addiction while on Pergolide, a dopamine drug produced by the Irish company Elan Pharmaceuticals and sold as Permax.
The research was carried out at the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Research Centre in Phoenix, Arizona, and the authors note that "opportunities for gambling" in Phoenix may be a factor in the results.
The head of the research team, Dr Mark Stacy, also cautioned that the risk of gambling addiction in a Parkinson's patient was "very small". - (Additional reporting by Reuters)
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