Quality of life in Serbian patients with Parkinson’s disease

Author： Žiropađa Ljubomir Stefanova Elka Potrebić Aleksandra Kostić Vladimir

ISSN： 0962-9343

Source： Quality of Life Research, Vol.18, Iss.7, 2009-09, pp. : 833-839

Disclaimer: Any content in publications that violate the sovereignty, the constitution or regulations of the PRC is not accepted or approved by CNPIEC.

Previous Menu Next

Abstract

The Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39) is a well-validated British scale for the assessment of health-related quality of life (QoL) in Parkinson’s disease (PD).To validate the Serbian version of the PDQ-39, while also providing additional information on the characteristics of this instrument.A total of 102 Serbian PD patients were asked to complete the PDQ-39, a disease-specific QoL questionnaire, as well as the generic, health status questionnaire (SF-36-version 1), and the 21-item Beck Depression Inventory. Neurological examination included the Hoehn and Yahr staging, Unified Parkinson’s disease rating scale (UPDRS)-part III, Schwab and England scale, and the Mini-Mental State Examination.Internal consistency analysis yielded a Cronbach’s α of 0.83. Cronbach’s α was above 0.70 for seven out of eight subscales (range from 0.73 to 0.91). A hierarchical structure of the PDQ-39 was revealed, with one global higher-order factor and two lower-order factors. The strongest predictor of the QoL in PD was the presence of depression, while motor disability (UPDRS-part III score) additionally contributed to poor QoL. Cognitive impairment has not been correlated with poor QoL. Also, QoL measures were not different between young- (≤50 years) and older-onset PD patients.The PDQ-39 is a reliable and valid instrument for the assessment of QoL in Serbian PD patients.