One year after DBS, follow-up exams found that:
- Both women and men improved remarkably, on average. There were significant improvements in motor skills, activities of daily living, tremor, rigidity, slowness of movement (bradykenesia), and hand-tapping test scores.
- Both men and women reduced the amount of medication they had to take. Men only took 24 percent of the levodopa equivalent daily dosage that they took prior to DBS, and women were taking 28 percent.
- Prior to the surgery, levodopa-related dyskinesia affected women more than men. However, after DBS the scores for men and women were about equal. (By the way, other studies report that dyskinesia seems to afflict women more than men.)
- DBS and medication helped men more than women with bradykenesia.
- Women improved in their "activities of daily living" scores more than men.
We should not be surprised that there are differences between women and men. There is ample evidence that the brains of men and women harbor many differences in anatomy and chemistry. Please keep in mind that the outcomes and statistics mentioned above are averages. Your doctors will have a better idea about what you might expect if you decided to pursue DBS.
Source: Movement Disorders, Published Online April 27, 2007
