Initiating dopamine agonists rather than levodopa in early Parkinson's disease does not delay the need for deep brain stimulation.

To our knowledge, this is the only study to date to evaluate the duration between levodopa/DA-first treatment and the development of MCs of sufficient severity to warrant consideration of DBS. No association was found. The results suggest that the development of disabling MCs warranting DBS is independent of the type of first dopaminergic treatment.