Quality of life and pain in Parkinson's disease: a controlled cross-sectional study.
OBJECTIVE
To compare health-related quality of life (HRQL) and pain symptoms in patients with PD with a matched control group. To our knowledge, controlled studies of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients within this area are rare.


METHODS
Fifty-seven patients and 95 controls took part in a self-administered questionnaire study. The instruments were the SF-36, visual analogue scales, pain drawing and pain-specific questions.


CONCLUSIONS
Pain problems are common in PD patients but also to a large extent in the normal population. HRQL was reduced (p < or = 0.001) for the PD patients on all the scales on the SF-36 and consequently also in the pain dimension. The study indicates that even PD patients, who are optimally diagnosed and treated by a neurologist, might require additional rehabilitation treatment to improve their HRQL and pain problems.
Quittenbaum
Birgitta H
BH
Rehabilitation Centre, Kronoberg County Council, Växjö, Sweden. birgitta.hagberg-quittenbaum@Itkronoberg.se
Grahn
Birgitta
B
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric