Parkinson’s disease: when should you initiate treatment?

A range of effective drug treatments are available for Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, long-term treatment is associated with the development of motor complications in a proportion of patients. The traditional view has been that deferring the initiation of therapy may be beneficial in patients with milder symptoms. However, recently, this view has been challenged as evidence has emerged that therapies given early in the disease course may have a beneficial effect in slowing disease progression.