title: Impact of Frontal Lobe Function and Behavioral Changes on Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Parkinson's Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study from Southwest China.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cognitive impairment may negatively impact the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). However, information on the effects of frontal lobe function and behavior changes on the HRQoL of the Chinese PD population is limited. Studies on the associations among frontal lobe function, behavioral changes and the HRQoL may help optimize the treatment and improve the HRQoL of PD patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 309 PD patients were evaluated using the Frontal Assessment Battery, the Frontal Behavioral Inventory (FBI) and the PD Questionnaire 39-item version (PDQ-39).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with worse frontal lobe function were older (p < 0.001), had longer disease durations (p = 0.002), higher Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale part III (UPDRS-III) scores (p < 0.001) and higher Hoehn and Yahr (H-Y) stages (p = 0.001), and exhibited significantly higher PDQ-39 summary index (SI; p = 0.001) compared with those who had better frontal lobe function. In addition, the disease duration (p = 0.008), UPDRS-III scores (p < 0.001), H-Y stage (p < 0.001), PDQ-39 SI and scores for each domain of the PDQ-39 (p < 0.001) were higher as the severity of frontal behavioral changes increased. The total FBI score (p < 0.001) was positively correlated with the PDQ-39 SI.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Frontal behavioral changes were closely associated with poor HRQoL in Chinese PD patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xueping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Zhenzhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Bei
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Bi
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Hui-Fang
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Shang
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People; D002681:China; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D000066553:Problem Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires