Mortality of long-term application of selegiline

The Parkinson's Disease Research Group of the United Kingdom (PDRG-UK) reported on an increased mortality in parkinson's disease patients treated with levodopa plus selegiline compared with those treated with levodopa alone. This report is surprising in view of previous studies in animals and parkinsonian patients suggesting that selegiline is associated with prolonged life expectancy. Although the authors of the PDRG-UK study previously suggested an association between selegiline treatment and increased mortality, at present there is no evidence for a causal relation between long-term selegiline treatment and the increased mortality found in the PDRG-UK study. Differences may relate to problems with the study design and the statistical methods employed in this study. In addition, the results of the PDRG-UK study contrast with those of all published studies which demonstrate no increase in mortality associated with selegiline treatment whether or not patients also received levodopa.