Correlation between depression and quality of life in patients with Parkinson's disease

Objective: To understand the distribution of Parkinson's disease questionnaire-39 (PDQ-39) scores in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with or without depression, and to analyze the factors that influence the quality of life of PD patients. Materials and Methods: 300 PD patients were enrolled. Patients' general information and the results of assessments including UPDRS, H-Y, HAMD, HAMA, ADL and PDQ-39 were collected. They were divided into depression group and non-depression group according to HAMD score. The relationship between PD-related depression and quality of life and the factors that influence the quality of life of PD patients were analyzed based on PDQ-39 score. Results: 111 patients with depression (37.0 %) and 189 patients without depression (63.0 %) were enrolled. The scores of PDQ-39 summary index (PDQ-39 SI) in the depression group were significantly higher than those in the non-depression group in all domains (P < 0.05). Patients in the depression group had a longer disease duration (6.89 +/- 4.70 vs. 5.52 +/- 4.12, P < 0.038), a higher UPDRS-III score (30.1 +/- 13.55 vs. 25.2 +/- 11.73, P < 0.001), and a higher H-Y stage level (2.41 +/- 0.853 vs. 2.13 +/- 0.707, P < 0.001), compared with patients in the non depression group. All factors including age, disease duration, UPDRS-III, H-Y stage, HAMD score and HAMA score, may independently affected PDQ-39SI in PD patients, among which HAMD had the greatest effect. HAMD and HAMA were correlated with PDQ-39 in its all eight domains. Conclusion: PD patients with psychological problems such as anxiety and depression may lead to a significant decline in the quality of life of patients in all domains.