Non-Motor Symptoms among Patients with Parkinson’s Disease: The Prevalence and its Effect on Quality of Life

Though traditionally Parkinson’s disease has been considered as a motor disorder, common and disabling non motor symptoms have an increasingly important role in Parkinson’s disease. The non-motor symptoms (NMSs) of Parkinson’s disease are a hallmark cause of disability and associated with the deterioration of life quality.

Aim: The aim of the study was to assess prevalence of NMSs among patients with Parkinson’s disease and its effect on quality of life QOL.

Methods: A quantitative descriptive correlational research design was used. A sample of 96 patients with PD was recruited from psychiatric outpatients’ clinics at Menoufia University Hospital. The Non-motor symptoms questionnaire (NMSs Quest) to detect the presence or absence of symptoms based on yes-no answers and EQ-5D visual analogue scale (EQ-5DVAS) to assess health-related quality of life.

Results: all patients with PD were complaining from one or more of non-motor symptoms and there were negative significant correlations between QOL total score and grand total scores of NMSs as well as its nine domains.

Conclusion: the present study showed that the non-motor symptoms had an effect on the quality of life. Recommendation: More assessment and management of NMSs are recommended for improvement of the quality of life of patients with PD and the involvement of a PD nurse specialist (PDNS) to offer education to the patients with PD and their families, the wider community, and training of clinical and non-clinical staff.

Keywords: Parkinson’s disease; Non-Motor symptoms (NMSs); Quality of life