Parkinsonism and Parkinson's disease associated with long-term administration of sertraline

Sertraline, a serotonin reuptake inhibitor, has been used to treat depression and has rarely been associated to Parkinsonism. The disease usually appears in old people a few days after sertraline administration and disappears very quickly after its withdrawal. We report a case of a woman, 81-year-old, who presented with hemiparkinsonism after long-term administration of sertraline at a dose of 100 mg/day. The symptoms disappeared 3 months after the withdrawal of the drug. However, without further administration of the drug for 14 months, the patient presented with Parkinson's disease, but responded well to levodopa.