Objective: This study aims to examine associations between changes in physical activity (PA) and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among Parkinson disease (PD) patients.

Background: Physical activity is beneficial for patients with Parkinson’s disease in general and for disease-specific outcomes, but it is not yet understood whether changes in PA over time impact HRQOL, and long-term prospective data in PD patients are not available.

Methods: We examined PA in a longitudinal cohort of 242 incident PD patients diagnosed between 2001 and 2007 in a population-based study in Central California and followed on average 7.5 years after diagnosis. We obtained adult PA information at baseline and collected daily PA and HRQOL via the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), EuroQol (EQ-5D) and Functional Activity Questionnaire (FAQ) at follow-up. In multiple regression analyses, we controlled for age, sex, education, race, disease duration and severity, and cognitive function.

Results: PD patients who were younger, male, of non-European ancestry, and more highly educated were more likely to consistently engaged in high level of PA throughout follow-up. Consistently high level of PA was associated with increased physical functioning, vitality, social functioning, general health and SF-36 total scores and less mobility problem (EQ-5D) at follow-up (p<0.05). Compared with participants who reported a decrease in PA level, those who reported the same or an increase displayed greater physical functioning and less pain. There were no association between changes of PA and instrumental functions.

Conclusions: This study provides preliminary evidence to suggest that maintaining or even increasing levels of PA leads to better overall HRQOL in terms of physical functioning, vitality, social functioning, general health and mobility controlling for demographic factors and disease severity and duration.

References: Oguh O, Eisenstein A, Kwasny M, Simuni T. Back to the basics: Regular exercise matters in Parkinson’s disease: Results from the National Parkinson Foundation QII Registry study. Parkinsonism & related disorders. 2014 Nov 30;20(11):1221-5.Opara JA, Brola W, Leonardi M, Blaszczyk B. Quality of life in Parkinson’s disease. Journal of medicine and life. 2012 Oct 1;5(4):375-81.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/physical-activity-and-quality-of-life-in-people-with-parkinsons-disease-a-long-term-follow-up-study/