Quality of Life in the Treatment of Parkinson's Disease

Assessment of quality of life parameters plays an increasingly important role in the evaluation of the health state of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and has an influence on therapeutic interventions. More specifically, the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is usually investigated by clinical studies using both generic and PD-specific evaluation scores. Clinical factors including disease duration and severity, fluctuations, dyskinesias, nocturnal akinesia, insomnia, axial and mental symptoms have been shown to negatively impact on the HRQoL. Based on meta-analyses, depression and axial symptoms including freezing of gait are largely responsible for the variability in life quality of PD patients. Therefore, future therapeutic approaches might focus on the amelioration of these specific symptoms. At present, following the criteria of evidence-based medicine, unilateral pallidotomy, bilateral subthalamic stimulation as well as rasagiline are regarded as clinically efficacious with respect to improvement of HRQoL.