The quality of life (QoL) in individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) is often influenced by changes in their swallowing abilities. The authors of this paper have developed a valid, statistically appropriate questionnaire which is also clinically effective and can be self-administered by patients with Parkinson’s disease. The initial version of the questionnaire used 29 items taken from accounts of 50 patients who were treated at a hospital in Brazil. Then a committee of experts analysed the items to reduce the questionnaire to 28 questions. This questionnaire was administered to PD patients and a healthy control group. The final questionnaire was drafted using factor analysis. All PD patients had higher scores compared to the normal volunteer group. This indicated the effects of PD-related swallowing dysfunction on the QoL of the patients. According to the authors, this validated questionnaire can be used for all patients of PD in different stages of the disease. In addition, it can be used to better characterise the patient’s symptoms in clinical practice as well as in research protocols.
Questionnaire to determine quality of life in Parkinson’s disease patients with swallowing problems
Reviewed by Gauri Mankekar
Quality of life and swallowing questionnaire for individuals with Parkinson’s disease: development and validation.
CONTRIBUTOR
Gauri Mankekar
Department of Otolaryngology-Head Neck Surgery, Louisiana State University Shreveport, Louisiana, USA.
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