Title : Quality of Life of Patients with Parkinson’s Disease and X-linked Dystonia Parkinsonism who underwent Deep Brain Stimulation
Abstract:
Introduction:
Parkinson’s disease (PD) and X-linked dystonia parkinsonism (XDP) cause dramatic disease burden to patient’s quality of life and even to the family members or caregivers. Symptoms eventually progress in time but is not necessarily equated to decline in quality of life. Neurostimulation was found to be superior to medical therapy in patients with advanced and even early PD and yielded promise on alleviating dystonia and parkinsonian symptoms among post-neurostimulation XDP patients (1-10).
Objective:
This study described the quality of life among PD and XDP patients post-DBS in terms of physical and psychosocial domains.
Methodology:
The registry of PD and XDP patients who underwent DBS was reviewed. There were a total of 11 patients who satisfied the eligibility criteria, but only 7 (63%) gave consent to be included in the study. Sickness Index Profile (SIP) Questionnaires were administered to these patients and/or caregivers during their regular follow-up consult. The scores were computed and compared to a set of cut-off values.
Results:
The subjects consisted of 7 post DBS patients, 2 were diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease and 5 with X-linked Dystonia Parkinsonism. Age ranged from 35 to 59; 2 individuals were female and 5 were male. The mean sickness index profile score of the subjects was 38.85 (28.5%). This score is higher compared to the general adult population’s score of 5(5) and to the cut-off SIP score of 33 +/- 13 (5). The result may indicate a poor quality of life post-DBS. Five patients obtained a score more than 33 while only 2 scored less than 20. The psychosocial domains are the most affected among our subjects.
Conclusion:
Our subjects have poor quality of life based from the mean SIP score of 38.85. Psychosocial domain is more impaired than the physical. However, this finding is inconclusive because their current quality of life is not compared to their baseline status prior to the procedure. Thus, their current quality of life can not be solely attributable to the procedure or disease process but also to other factors that affect their way of living prior to the procedure or even prior to diagnosis of PD or XDP.
