Chosen Factors of Quality of Life with Parkinson’s Disease

Abstract

Background. The most significant aim of treatment for Parkinson’s disease is the improvement of functioning of the patient in the daily living. The interest of medical sciences moved beyond the traditional, purely medical area of action, focusing on different fields of their life.
Aim. The assessment of relations of chosen factors to the quality of life of patients with Parkinson’s disease was the purpose of this work.
Material and methods. The research was conducted among 75 patients with Parkinson’s disease in the University Department of Neurology in Cracow and in Sądecki Railway Outpatient in the period from November 2010 to April 2011. The data was collected with the standardized Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire 39 (PDQ 39) used for the evaluation of the quality of life and clinical state in patients with Parkinson’s disease, with Lawtona scale (Instrumental Activities of Daily Living – IADL) used for the assessment of functional efficiency in complex activities of everyday life and with the geriatric depression scale.
Results. The research showed that Parkinson’s disease had an adverse impact on all examined aspects of the quality of life. To a great degree, the disease limits the patients’ mobility (74%) and makes it impossible to perform basic everyday activities (69%). As a result of illness, 61% of the examined patients feel permanent discomfort of the body and limited cognitive functions. As many as 60% have problems arising from contacts with other people because of the stigmatization of their illness, whereas 57% have problems in communicating and emotional disorders. Results also showed a moderate grade of depression in 61% of the examined people and only 36% of patients had no symptoms of depression.
Conclusions. Parkinson’s disease to the greatest degree limits abilities of free migration of the patient, both in a public place and within their own flat. The illness deprives of possibilities to use the phone which is a basic tool of communication. The patients who run their household alone demonstrate a greater psychological resistance in the face of heavy and incurable illness in spite of greater functional dysfunctions. Symptoms of depression are one of the factors which lower the quality of life in Parkinson’s disease. (PNN 2012;1(2):48-57)