Psychological functioning in patients with Parkinson's disease

Forty patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) were studied to explore the re lationship between aspects of psychological functioning (depression, proble ms in motoric, cognitive and psychological areas) and physical illness (sta ge and duration of illness, functional disability, global cognitive status) . Depression, motoric, psychological and cognitive problems were found to b e significantly greater in patients suffering from severe as compared to mo derate disease. Functional disability correlated more strongly with variabl es assessing psychological functioning. It was concluded that problems of p atients with PD were not restricted to the motoric domain but are multi-dim ensional in nature, and other factors should be taken into account in the c linical management of the illness. These findings have implications for dev elopment of interventions for patients with PD. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science L td. All rights reserved.