Deep brain stimulation and responsiveness of the Persian version of Parkinson's disease questionnaire with 39-items

Assessment of quality-of-life (QOF) as an outcome measure after deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) need a valid, reliable and responsive instrument. The aim of the current study was to determine responsiveness of validated Persian version of PD questionnaire with 39-items (PDQ-39) after DBS surgery in patients with PD.

Eleven patients with PD, who were candidate for DBS operation between May 2012 and June 2013 were assessed. PDQ-39 and short-form questionnaire with 36-items (SF-36) were used. To assess responsiveness of PDQ-39 standardized response mean (SRM) was used.

Mean age was 51.8 (8.8) and all of the patients, but just one were male (10 patients). Mean duration of the disease was 8.7 (2.1) years. Eight patients were categorized as moderate using Hoehn and Yahr (H and Y) classification. All patients had a better H and Y score compared with the baseline evaluation (3.09 vs. 0.79). The amount of SRM was above 0.70 for all domains means a large responsiveness for PDQ-39.

Persian version of PDQ-39 has an acceptable responsiveness and could be used to assess as an outcome measure to evaluate the effect of therapies on PD.