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Dynamic Digital Biomarkers of Motor and Cognitive Function in Parkinson's Disease
Published on: July 24, 2019
Multidisciplinary care for patients with Parkinson's disease
M A van der Marck1, J G Kalf, I H W M Sturkenboom
1Nijmegen Centre for Evidence Based Practice, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Parkinsonism & Related Disorders
|January 20, 2010
Summary
Parkinson's disease (PD) management can be improved with allied health care. Multidisciplinary approaches are recommended, but require further research for cost-effectiveness.
Area of Science:
- Neurology
- Rehabilitation Medicine
- Allied Health Sciences
Background:
- Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with diverse motor and non-motor symptoms.
- Current PD management is often monodisciplinary, focusing on pharmacotherapy and surgery, yet patients frequently experience progressive disability.
- Allied health care offers potential complementary benefits, even for treatment-resistant symptoms, and is increasingly recognized in clinical guidelines.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the role and evidence for allied health care in Parkinson's disease management.
- To highlight challenges in current allied health care delivery for PD patients, including expertise gaps and fragmented interventions.
- To advocate for a multidisciplinary approach and identify research needs for evaluating its effectiveness and cost-effectiveness.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of scientific evidence and clinical practice guidelines for allied health care in PD.
- Analysis of current challenges in multidisciplinary care delivery and collaboration.
- Synthesis of findings to provide recommendations for current practice and future research.
Main Results:
- Scientific evidence supports the complementary benefits of physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language therapy for PD symptoms.
- Barriers to effective allied health care include insufficient therapist expertise, low patient volumes, and lack of interdisciplinary collaboration.
- Existing studies on multidisciplinary care for PD are limited and not yet convincing.
Conclusions:
- A multidisciplinary approach with tailored, multifactorial health plans is clinically suggested for optimal PD management.
- Further rigorous clinical trials are necessary to establish the scientific basis and cost-effectiveness of a multidisciplinary team approach in PD care.
- Recommendations are provided for enhancing current multidisciplinary care delivery for Parkinson's disease patients.
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