Does patient self-reported data have a role in the longitudinal study of Parkinson's disease? An analysis of the...

Patient-reported data can be a valuable, adjunctive tool in helping physicians assess the quality-of-life and functional changes in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). We analyzed and evaluated the largest PD patient-reported database (PROPATHtrade mark) relative to prescribing habits and changes in reported outcomes by therapy. Our analysis included 1436 patients, followed for 1 yr, who completed a series of questionnaires assessing medication therapy, daily activity scores adapted from the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), global disease visual analogue scale, and health resources consumption. Our results indicated that physicians are prescribing Eldepryl(R) with increased frequency in patients with early and mild PD. Patients receiving Eldepryl alone or in combination with Sinemet(R) reported better outcomes than those receiving Sinemet monotherapy. There was a great deal of variability in the reported utilization of healthcare resources by patients in the PROPATH program and, thus, no statistical differences were noted for patients treated with different regimens. We conclude that the adjunctive use of longitudinal patient self-reported data programs such as PROPATH can help assess and improve overall patient outcomes. Future controlled studies should be conducted to further evaluate the roles of alternative therapies and patient-reported data in improving quality-of-life and outcomes for PD patients.