Depression in multiple system atrophy and in idiopathic Parkinson's disease: a pilot comparative study.

Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a disease causing parkinsonism in which response to levodopa is classically absent, poor, or transient. Idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD) itself, which responds favorably to levodopa, has been associated with the development of disease-related depression. Over and above the clinical and pathological characteristics of IPD, MSA causes additional, more widespread, clinical and pathological deficits. We have compared motor disability and mood in 12 patients with MSA and 12 with IPD. There was more severe motor disability, but no clinical evidence of depression among the MSA patients studied, and their Beck Depression Inventory scores did not differ significantly from the group with IPD. We conclude that depression does not appear to be more common in MSA than in IPD.