Quality of life and pain in Parkinson's disease: a controlled cross-sectional study

Purpose. To compare health-related quality of life (HRQL) and-pain symptoms in patients with PD with a matched control group. To our knowledge, controlled studies of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients within this area are rare. Scope. Fifty-seven patients and 95 controls took part in a self-administered questionnaire study. The instruments were the SF-36, visual analogue scales, pain drawing and pain-specific questions. Conclusions. Pain problems are common in PD patients but also to a large extent in the normal population. HRQL was reduced (p less than or equal to 0.001) for the PD patients on all the scales on the SF-36 and consequently also in the pain dimension. The study indicates that even PD patients, who are optimally diagnosed and treated by a neurologist, might require additional rehabilitation treatment to improve their HRQL and pain problems. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.