Influence of Motor Symptoms upon the Quality of Life of Patients with Parkinson’s Disease

Abstract

We studied the impact of various motor and nonmotor symptoms upon quality of life in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The study comprised 110 patients with PD (age: 68.6 years, course of the disease: 7.6 years). The Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS; I–IV) and Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39) were recorded. We recorded the correlations between years of disease and UPDRS IV, as well as PDQ-39 and UPDRS I, II, III and IV. Introduction of all variables into a linear regression model showed that 3 variables accounted for 51% of the variance in PDQ-39. Mental condition, gait disorders and complications of dopaminergic drugs are the variables that most affect the quality of life of patients with PD.

Impact of changes in balance and walking capacity on the quality of life in patients with Parkinson's disease

“…These results corroborate the findings of other researches that indicate the close association between motor symptoms measured by the UPDRS, HY and SE, and a poor QoL in individuals with PD [8][9][10][11][12] . Lyons et al 30 found that postural instability, gait abnormalities and bradykinesia assessed by means of questions from the motor section of the UPDRS have the greatest impact on the QoL.…”

“…The QoL in PD patients includes the individual's symptoms and physical functioning, as well as psychosocial variables 26 . Although many studies demonstrated that the motor symptoms contribute to the worsening of the perception of QoL in individuals with PD, these investigations predominantly correlated the items of the UPDRS with the dimensions from the PDQ-39 [10][11][12][13] . Therefore, the aim of our study was to specifically assess the balance and the walking capacity of PD patients through instruments usually used in clinical practice of the Physiotherapy and to correlate the findings with the QoL perception of these individuals.…”

“…These authors hold that improvements in these dimensions might enhance the perception of QoL in PD patients 13 . Gómez-Esteban et al showed correlations between the gait dysfunctions measured by the questions from the motor section of the UPDRS and the PDQ-39 11 . This association occurred at the expense of the patients' perception of their mobility and activities of daily living dimensions 11 .…”

“…Several studies were carried out with the aim to assess the impact of motor symptoms on QoL in patients with PD. Most of these studies used PD specific instruments, as the Unified Parkinson' s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), modified Hoehn and Yahr Staging Scale (HY) and modified Schwab and England Capacity for Daily Living Scale (SE), to assess motor symptoms 10,11,13 . For instance, PD patients who had postural instability, history of falls and difficulty to walk according to the UPDRS obtained worse scores in Parkinson' s disease quality of life questionnaire (PDQ-39) when compared with patients who did not report any of these problems 10 .…”

“…For instance, PD patients who had postural instability, history of falls and difficulty to walk according to the UPDRS obtained worse scores in Parkinson' s disease quality of life questionnaire (PDQ-39) when compared with patients who did not report any of these problems 10 . The gait dysfunction in the sub-item 29 of the UPDRS was recently identified as one of the main determining factors contributing to a worse perception of QoL, correlating itself with the dimensions mobility and daily living activities of the PDQ-39 11 .…”