Objective: The aim of this study was to examine whether the annual clinical evaluation system improves QOL in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients.

Background: We perform 45-minite clinical evaluations once a year to patients with PD aged 80 or younger in our outpatient clinic. The evaluations include, MDS-UPDRS, MMSE, QUIP and PDQ-39. For each patient, our PD team has conferences to decide on courses of treatment for the following year after the evaluations. There are no other PD clinics in the Aomori Prefecture. The significance of the PD clinic remains unclear.

Methods: We collected PDQ-39 data from 190 PD patients evaluated in the PD clinic during 2015 (female/male= 118/72, average age 68.9 years). We sent an anonymous questionnaire including PDQ-39 to 1417 patients with PD who had received medical care certificates for Intractable Disease from Aomori Prefecture Government in Japan during the 2014 fiscal year. We analyzed the PDQ-39 data from 354 patients (female/male=200/154, average age 69.6 years) who were aged 80 or younger and lived in five medical districts other than the Aomori district where our hospital is located.

Results: Total PDQ-39 scores from patients of the PD clinic and the questionnaire were 36.5 and 70.0 (P<0.001), respectively. All the subscores of PDQ-39, mobility, ADL, emotional well-being, stigma, social support, cognitions, communication, and bodily discomfort, were better in the PD clinic group (P<0.001).

Conclusions: These results suggest that the annual clinical evaluation system improves QOL of patients with PD.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/annual-clinical-evaluation-in-out-patient-clinic-may-improve-quality-of-life-in-patients-with-parkinsons-disease/