AN INTRODUCTION TO THE CONCEPT OF QUALITY-OF-LIFE IN PARKINSONS-DISEASE

The sense of well-being is central to the concept of quality of life ( QoL), but there is not a universally accepted definition of health-rel ated QoL. QoL refers to the patient's own evaluation of the impact of the disease. It includes physical, psychological and socioeconomic dim ensions, and its measurement is of paramount importance in evaluating research outcomes and in cost-benefit analyses. In addition, QoL asses sment helps to identify problems and may be essential in chronic and d isabling diseases such as in Parkinson's disease (PD). There are numer ous reasons for the decrease in QoL suffered by PD patients: restricti ons in mobility. falls, emotional disorders, social embarrassment, iso lation, sleep disturbances, dyskinesias, and fluctuations. Many aspect s of these disorders go unnoticed in clinical evaluation, and only QoL assessment allows them to be rated. Generic instruments have been use d in a few studies measuring QoL in PD patients. Only recently have sp ecific instruments as PDQ-39 and PDQL-37 been designed and validated. QoL assessment in PD is an important and expanding area, with a promis ing application in clinical trials and pharmacoeconomics.