title: Health-related quality of life in patients with Parkinson's disease: Implications for falling.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It has been demonstrated that various domains of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) have predictive value in progression of disability and depression in a neurological setting. The aim of this study was to assess potential predictive value of domains of HRQoL in occurrence of falls among persons with Parkinson's disease (PD) over one year of follow-up.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study comprised cross-sectional design at baseline and 1-year prospective cohort study. Those who denied having fallen in the past 6 months were followed for one year, while participants were asked to record falls prospectively in a falls diary for a year. A total of 300 consecutive PD outpatients without cognitive impairment were recruited from August 15, 2011 to December 15, 2012 in the outpatient Department of Movement Disorders, Institute of Neurology, Clinical Center of Serbia in Belgrade. The HRQoL was evaluated using the SF-36 questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All domains of the SF-36, except Role Emotional, were significantly lower among fallers. After controlling for potential confounding factors, the domain of Role Physical (p = 0.027), Physical Composite Score (p = 0.023) and the total SF-36 score (p = 0.029) were significant predictors of occurrence of falls within one year of follow-up.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Assessment of quality of life represents an additional tool to the established measures of clinical course of the disease and could provide further insight in complex distinction of risk factors for falling in PD.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Tatjana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gazibara
authors.affiliation: Institute of Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Tatjana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pekmezovic
authors.affiliation: Institute of Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Darija
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kisic Tepavcevic
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Neurology, Clinical Centre of Serbia, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Svetel
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Neurology, Clinical Centre of Serbia, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tomic
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Neurology, Clinical Centre of Serbia, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Iva
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Stankovic
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Neurology, Clinical Centre of Serbia, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia. Electronic address: vladimir.s.kostic@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Vladimir S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Kostic
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Falls; Health-related quality of life; Parkinson's disease