Trajectory of Quality of Life in Advanced Parkinson's Patients Receiving Bilateral Subthalamic Nucleus Deep Brain Stimulation

<p>Quality of Life (QOL) in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients after Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) neurosurgery generally improves between 3 to 24 months post-operatively. However, QOL beyond 2 year follow-up is generally unknown. This study examined the QOL in 16 advanced PD patients who received DBS at an average of 7.5 year follow-up with the Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39). Participants had an average Disease Duration of 20.57 years (SD 5.7) and a mean Age of 63.50 (SD 8.05). Linear regression analyses suggested a constellation of changes involving Time, Age, and Disease Duration. As Time progressed since DBS intervention, the PDQ-39 Cognitions subscale worsened (<em>p</em> < .05). Increasing Age was associated with improvement in Stigma-related QOL (<em>p</em> < .01). Rising Disease Duration correlated with improvements in three PDQ-39 subscales: (a) Stigma (<em>p</em> < .01), (b) Emotional Well-Being (<em>p</em> < .01), and (c) Social Support (<em>p</em> < .05). Findings suggested the need to further explore the domains and dimensions of QOL change post-DBS intervention, as well as other methods to measure the depth and breadth of QOL in DBS recipients.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Year dc:date.available

2009

Author dc:creator

• Chiang, Karl S.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Cynthia A. McRae, Ph.D.
• Kathy Green
• Brian D. Hoyt
• Roger E. Salters

• Behavioral medicine
• Deep brain stimulation
• Movement disorders
• Parkinson Disease
• Psychology
• Quality of life
• Clinical Psychology
• Social and Behavioral Sciences

Statement dc:rights

• <p>Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.</p>

Language dc:language

en

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/124

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.du.edu:etd-1123