Health-Related Quality of Life in Parkinson's Disease

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in Parkinson’s disease encompasses the physical, emotional and social dimensions of well-being as experienced by people living with the condition. Beyond hallmark motor features such as bradykinesia, rigidity and tremor, non-motor symptoms including mood disturbances, cognitive decline, autonomic dysfunction and sleep disorders exert a profound influence on daily functioning. The impact of these diverse manifestations is mediated by factors such as age at onset, disease duration, comorbidities and socio-economic context. Standardised instruments—most notably the Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire-39 (PDQ-39) and generic tools such as the EuroQoL 5D-5L—have facilitated systematic assessment of symptom burden and intervention effects. Recent advances in analytic approaches have revealed distinct trajectories of functional decline, while growing attention to minimum clinically important difference (MCID) thresholds has improved the interpretation of treatment impact. Cultural and language adaptations of HRQoL scales are helping to ensure global applicability. Together, these developments point towards patient-centred management strategies that prioritise the real-world experiences and priorities of people with Parkinson’s disease.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have applied latent class growth analysis to large cohorts, identifying discrete clusters of walking difficulty that remain relatively stable over time. These trajectories range from minimal impairment to severe gait dysfunction and are associated with depression, anxiety, arthritis, body mass index, income and educational attainment rather than demographic factors alone. Such person-centred modelling offers a framework for tailoring interventions based on anticipated progression patterns. In a separate investigation of a national Parkinson’s centre cohort, every patient exhibited at least one non-motor symptom, with sleep-fatigue, affect-cognition and autonomic complaints prevailing. Correlational analyses linked gastrointestinal and cardiovascular dysfunctions to poorer health-related quality of life and activities of daily living, surpassing the impact of motor signs. Interrelationships among non-motor domains suggest shared neuropathological substrates and underscore the need for holistic therapeutic approaches.

Health-Related Quality of Life in Parkinson's Disease publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in health-related quality of life in parkinson's disease across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL): A multidimensional concept capturing the impact of disease and treatment on physical, emotional and social functioning.

Non-Motor Symptoms (NMS): Manifestations of Parkinson’s disease unrelated to movement, including cognitive impairment, mood disorders, autonomic dysfunction and sleep disturbances.

Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire-39 (PDQ-39): A 39-item, disease-specific instrument measuring eight domains of quality of life in Parkinson’s disease.

Minimum Clinically Important Difference (MCID): The smallest change in a clinical scale that patients perceive as beneficial or harmful, used to interpret the relevance of treatment effects.

Latent Class Growth Analysis (LCGA): A statistical method that identifies subgroups within a population based on similar trajectories of change over time.

References

1. A person-centered approach to characterizing longitudinal ambulatory impairment in Parkinson's disease. Scientific Reports (2024).
2. Non-Motor symptoms in Portuguese Parkinson’s Disease patients: correlation and impact on Quality of Life and Activities of Daily Living. Scientific Reports (2016).
3. Bridging the gap between statistical significance and clinical relevance: A systematic review of minimum clinically important difference (MCID) thresholds of scales reported in movement disorders research. Heliyon (2024).
4. Psychometric properties of Arabic-translated-related quality of life scales for people with parkinson disease: a scoping review. BMC Public Health (2024).
5. Predictors of clinically significant quality of life impairment in Parkinson’s disease. npj Parkinson's Disease (2021).