The impact of COVID-19 on access to Parkinson's disease medication.

Cheong, Julia L Y; Goh, Zhao Hang Keith; Marras, Connie; Tanner, Caroline M; Kasten, Meike; Noyce, Alastair J

BACKGROUND Many countries have implemented drastic measures to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Restrictions and diversion of resources may have negatively affected patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). OBJECTIVES We aimed to examine whether COVID-19 had an impact on access to PD medication by region and income. METHODS This study was conducted as part of a survey sent to members of the Movement Disorders Society focusing on access to PD medication globally. RESULTS Of 346 responses, 157 (45.4%) agreed that COVID-19 had affected access to PD medication. 22.8% of high income and 88.9% of low-income countries' respondents agreed that access to PD medication was affected by COVID-19. 59% of 'yes' respondents reported increased disability of patients as an impact. CONCLUSIONS Access to PD medication is likely to have been affected by COVID-19 and result in deterioration of patients' symptomatic control. Resource-poor countries appear to be disproportionately affected compared to more affluent countries.