Levodopa infusion in Parkinson's disease: Individual quality of life

Parkinson's disease (PD) features both motor and non-motor symptoms that substantially impact quality of life (QoL). Levodopa-carbidopa intestinal gel (LCIG) reduces motor complications and improves some non-motor symptoms in advanced PD (APD). Change in patients' health-related quality of life (hrQoL) is a common endpoint in PD trials and has become an important factor in judging overall effect of LCIG. However, hrQoL is considered to be only one dimension of QoL. The primary aim of this prospective observational study was to observe the effects of LCIG on individual quality of life (iQoL) in PD and caregivers. The secondary aim was to investigate its effects on patients' motor and non-motor symptoms as well as effects on caregiver burden.

Utilizing the Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life-Questionnaire (SEIQoL-Q) and the Personal Wellbeing Index-Adult (PWI-A), twelve patients with advanced PD and their caregivers were followed for six months after initiation of LCIG treatment.

At the final follow-up, improvements of iQoL for patients (median SEIQoL index improvement 0.16, P < .05) and caregivers (median SEIQoL index improvement 0.20, P < .05) were seen together with improvements of motor and non-motor symptoms. There were no significant improvements of hrQoL.

The study results indicate that LCIG improves iQoL in PD in addition to the improvement of motor and non-motor symptoms. Furthermore, this study signals that LCIG may also contribute to improvement of iQoL in caregivers.