Parkinson's disease is a common neurodegenerative disorder in which patients experience
progressive motor disability and many disabling non-motor symptoms. Recent studies have
consistently found that people who do not use caffeine are at higher risk of developing
Parkinson's disease. This suggests that caffeine may have potential as a treatment for PD.
In a pilot study of caffeine for daytime sleepiness in PD, there was evident benefit on the
motor manifestations of disease. There have been other lines of evidence that have suggested
caffeine could be useful in PD. This study is to evaluate the efficacy of caffeine 200 mg BID
vs matching placebo for motor and non-motor aspects of disease. This will be in three stages.
In the first six-month stage, medications will be held constant, to see whether caffeine does
have motor benefits. Then we will perform a four-year extension stage to define if the
effects of caffeine persist (or even magnify), and to see if caffeine helps reduce dose of
other PD meds and/or prevents their side effects. Finally, we will finish with a six-month
stage in which we will place all patients on caffeine - this will allow us to assess
caffeine's use in later disease, but more importantly, will assess whether early use of
caffeine produces long term changes beyond its immediate effects.
Phase:
Phase 3
Details
Lead Sponsor:
McGill University Health Center McGill University Health Centre/Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre
Collaborators:
Movement Disorder Clinic - Deer Lodge Centre Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná The Ottawa Hospital UBC Hospital University Health Network, Toronto University of Calgary University of Newfoundland and Eastern Health