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Ropinirole, bromocriptine, and piribedil are associated with the highest incidence rates of adverse effects in Parkinson's disease, according to a review published online Sept. 4 in CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics. Bao-Dong Li, from the Hebei Province Cangzhou Hospital of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine in China, and colleagues conducted a systematic review to compare the adverse effects of 11 drugs used to treat Parkinson's disease. Data were included from 24 randomized controlled trials. The researchers found that, compared with placebo, the incidence of adverse reactions of ropinirole, rotigotine, entacapone, and sumanirole were higher in terms of nausea. The incidence rates of dyskinesia side effects were highest with ropinirole, while in terms of patients' hallucination, pramipexole was significantly higher. The surface under the cumulative ranking curve values of all drugs showed that the incidence of adverse reaction of pergolide was relatively high (nausea, 83.5 percent; hallucination, 79.8 percent); the incidence of dyskinesia and somnolence was higher with ropinirole (80.5 and 69.4 percent); in terms of dizziness, the incidence of adverse reaction of piribedil was higher (67.0 percent), and in terms of constipation, the incidence of bromocriptine was relatively high (62.3 percent). "In addition to current forms of treatment, we hope that our results can produce useful information for further development of new drugs to treat Parkinson's disease based on the natures of each drug," the authors write.

More than 78 percent of health care personnel (HCP) and 53.6 percent of pregnant women received influenza vaccination during the 2016-2017 influenza season, according to two studies published in the Sept. 29 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Carla L. Black, Ph.D., from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and colleagues surveyed 2,438 HCP to estimate influenza vaccination coverage. The researchers found that during the 2016-2017 season, 78.6 percent of survey respondents reported receiving vaccination, similar to reported coverage in the previous three seasons. Coverage was highest for those working in hospitals compared with those working in ambulatory or long-term-care settings (92.3 versus 76.1 and 68 percent) and for those who were required by their employer to be vaccinated (96.7 percent), as in previous seasons. Helen Ding, M.D., from the CDC, and colleagues surveyed 1,893 women pregnant at any time during October 2016 to January 2017. The researchers found that 53.6 percent of respondents reported having received influenza vaccination before or during pregnancy (16.2 and 37.4 percent, respectively); this was similar to coverage during the previous four influenza seasons. Overall, 67.3, 11.9, and 20.7 percent of women reported receiving a provider offer for influenza vaccination, receiving a recommendation but no offer, and receiving no recommendation, respectively, similar to the previous influenza season; influenza vaccination coverage was 70.5, 43.7, and 14.8 percent, respectively, among these women.