title: Linking clinical variables to health-related quality of life in Parkinson's disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Identify the point-in-time relationship between Parkinson's disease (PD) signs and symptoms and measures of health-related quality of life (HRQL).
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Clinical measures used in PD assessments traditionally emphasize physical signs and symptoms. We hypothesized that these measures would be strongly associated with the physical function dimensions of HRQL that reflect mental symptoms.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study of 193 neurology clinic PD patients employed self-administered in-clinic and take-home questionnaires and in-person clinical examinations and interviews.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The variance explained by PD physical signs and symptoms was substantial for physical function, but only modest for all other HRQL dimensions. Mental symptoms explained a larger proportion of variance than physical symptoms for 12 of the 14 HRQL measures.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PD patients' well-being, general health perceptions, health satisfaction and overall HRQL are strongly influenced by mental health symptoms and more weakly influenced by physical symptoms. Clinical evaluation of PD patients should include mental health and self-reported HRQL assessment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA. e-chrischilles@uiowa.edu
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Chrischilles
authors.forename: Linda M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Rubenstein
authors.forename: Margaret D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Voelker
authors.forename: Robert B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Wallace
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Rodnitzky
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life