title: The importance of educational and psychological factors in Parkinson's disease quality of life.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To define the factors correlated with quality of life (QoL) in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD).
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  PD has a substantial impact on QoL. Although several clinical factors have been associated with QoL in PD, the influence of patient's education still remains controversial.
  
  
  METHODS
  A consecutive series of patients with PD were examined using the unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS part I, II, III), Schwab and England (SE), and Hoehn and Yahr stage (H&Y). QoL was rated with the PDQ-39, cognition with the Mini-Mental State examination (MMSE), and the presence of depressive symptoms with the geriatric depression scale (GDS). Patient's characteristics, estimated cumulative levodopa dose (CLD), UPDRS, H&Y, MMSE and GDS were correlated with the PDQ-39 using univariate and multiple regression analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of one hundred 58 patients (68 men, 90 women) with a mean age of 65.6 +/- 9.3 years, PD duration of 8.1 +/- 10.6 years, and education of 6.6 +/- 3.9 years were included. The mean PDQ-39 was 48.8 +/- 27.8, mean MMSE was 25.7 +/- 4, and mean GDS was 11.7 +/- 6.8. Using stepwise multiple regression analysis, the most important predictive factors were depression, UPDRS part I, UPDRS part II, and educational background, which accounted for a 61% of the variability of the PDQ-39 scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In our PD sample, educational, behavioural, and psychological factors influenced life satisfaction more than physical ones.
authors.affiliation: Neurology Department, Hospital Mutua de Terrassa, Terrassa (Barcelona), Spain. cubox01@yahoo.com
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cubo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rojo
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ramos
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Quintana
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kompoliti
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aguilar
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology*; D004493:Education; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011788:Quality of Life