Category: Parkinson's Disease: Non-Motor Symptoms
Objective: As insight in the drivers of varying symptom severity might help manage symptoms, this study investigates the association between symptom severity and contextual factors in the vacation setting.
Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) has debilitating effects on quality of life. Although PD is gradually progressive over years, symptoms vary day-to-day, and it is unknown how contextual factors affect this in daily life.
Method: An international cross-sectional survey was conducted in the context of a vacation as a natural experiment, during which many contextual factors change. The survey, co-designed with patients, captured changes in overall and symptom-specific symptom severity during vacation, and vacation characteristics as potential determinants. Logistic regression was conducted adjusting for age, gender, disease duration and Parkinson’s Disease-Questionnaire-8.
Results: We included 147 out of the 242 individuals who completed the survey, as they went on recent vacation. Overall symptomatic improvement on vacation was reported by 44.9%, whereas 12.9% reported symptom worsening. On vacation, more physical activity was associated with overall improvement, specifically walking, pain, cramps and slowness. Longer sleep was associated with overall improvement, mainly in walking and mood. Warmer temperatures were associated with improvement of stiffness, pain and limitations in daily life. High altitude was only associated with improved stiffness. More stress, less sleep and physical activity were associated with symptomatic worsening.
Conclusion: This study shows that contextual factors relate to PD symptom severity during vacations, suggesting these factors can be deployed to influence symptom severity. Future research is needed to quantify effect sizes and to translate these findings into non-pharmacological interventions.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
J. Janssen Daalen, J. Hubbers, M. Sharifi Bonab, S. Mathur, D. Thijssen, B. Bloem, M. Meinders. Determinants of symptom severity in Parkinson’s disease: the International Vacation Survey [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2022; 37 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/determinants-of-symptom-severity-in-parkinsons-disease-the-international-vacation-survey/. Accessed May 21, 2025.« Back to 2022 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/determinants-of-symptom-severity-in-parkinsons-disease-the-international-vacation-survey/