Research Information System
Neurosciences, vol.14, no.1, pp.60-66, 2009 (Peer-Reviewed Journal)
Objectives: To evaluate the socio-demographic and
clinical feature of patients with Parkinson’s disease,
their health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and the
relationship between these.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted
in Istanbul University Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty
Hospital, and Ministry of Health, Taksim and Haseki Education and Research Hospitals in Istanbul,
Turkey. The sample consisted of 80 Parkinson’s disease
patients who attended the Parkinson’s and Movement
Disorders Outpatient Clinics between March and July
2006. Data were collected using the questionnaire
form, which included socio-demographic and clinical
characteristics, the Hoehn and Yahr clinical staging
scale, the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale
(UPDRS), and the Nottingham Health Profile.
Results: The mean age of the patients was 67.5 ±
8.76 years, 62.5% were males, and approximately
47.5% were in stage one of Parkinson’s disease.
The highest mean score on the UPDRS was for the
“motor function” part (11.62 ± 7.45); the quality of
life dimensions of, in particular, “energy” (69.79 ±
21.17), “physical movement” (44.95 ± 24.23), “sleep”
(36.36 ± 31.96), and “emotional reactions” (35.01 ±
31.55) were affected.
Conclusion: This study indicates that patients with
Parkinson’s disease who experienced the most problems
in mobilizing, had an increase in their scores on the
UPDRS with the advancing stage of the disease, and
their HRQoL was also negatively affected. Studies
such as this one have the potential to improve the
quality of individualized care.