Objective: To determine predictors of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Background: Determining the disease characteristics and symptoms associated with HRQoL in PD is important to understand which outcomes significantly impact patients.

Methods: We recruited 102 subjects into a prospective study to investigate neuropsychiatric symptoms in PD. Subjects were administered the Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire (PDQ39), an assessment of HRQoL in PD. It consists of 8 domains and was converted to a composite score, the PDQ39 Summary Index (PDQ39 SI). Subjects completed the Movement Disorder Society Unified PD Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) parts 1-4, Scales for Outcomes in PD Autonomic questionnaire, Scales for Outcomes in PD Sleep questionnaire, Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Beck Depression Inventory 2 (BDI2), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Questionnaire for Impulsive-Compulsive Disorders in PD, Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder Questionnaire, Apathy Scale, and Montreal Cognitive Assessment. Univariate analyses between clinical predictors and PDQ39 SI were performed. Variables with p<0.2 were considered for a multivariate regression model. Forward stepwise selection was used to determine which predictors were independently associated with higher PDQ39 SI scores (worse HRQoL) at p<0.05.

Results: In a multivariate linear regression model adjusted for age and gender, higher scores on the MDS-UPDRS part 2 (p<0.001), BAI (p=0.003), BDI2 (p=0.001), ESS (p<0.001), and Apathy Scale (p=0.01) were significantly associated with worse HRQoL. These variables explained 78% of the variance in the PDQ39 SI, and the non-motor symptoms explained 49% of the variance.

Conclusions: Anxiety, depression, daytime sleepiness, apathy, and impairment in activities of daily living related to motor symptoms were independently associated with worse HRQoL in PD. MDS-UPDRS part 2 was the only part of the MDS-UPRDS associated with worse HRQoL, and non-motor symptoms explained a large proportion of the variance in the PDQ39 SI.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/predictors-of-health-related-quality-of-life-in-parkinsons-disease/