Handicap as a Measure of Perceived-Health Status in Parkinson's Disease

Handicap is a patient-centered measure of health status that encompasses the impact of social and physical environment on daily living, having been assessed in advanced and late-stage Parkinson's Disease (PD).

To characterize the handicap of a broader sample of patients.

A cross-sectional study of 405 PD patients during the MDS-UPDRS Portuguese validation study, using the MDS-UPDRS, Unified Dyskinesias Rating Scale, Nonmotor symptoms questionnaire, PDQ-8 and EQ-5D-3L. Handicap was measured using the London Handicap Scale (LHS).

Mean age was 64.42 (±10.3) years, mean disease duration 11.30 (±6.5) years and median HY 2 (IQR, 2-3). Mean LHS was 0.652 (±0.204); "Mobility," "Occupation" and "Physical Independence" were the most affected domains. LHS was significantly worse in patients with longer disease duration, older age and increased disability. In contrast, PDQ-8 did not differentiate age groups. Handicap was significantly correlated with disease duration (r = -0.35), nonmotor experiences of daily living (EDL) (MDS-UPDRS-I) (r = -0.51), motor EDL (MDS-UPDRS-II) (r = -0.69), motor disability (MDS-UPDRS-III) (r = -0.49), axial signs of MDS-UPDRS-III (r = -0.55), HY (r = -0.44), presence of nonmotor symptoms (r = -0.51) and PDQ-8 index (r = -0.64) (all P < 0.05). Motor EDL, MDS-UPDRS-III and PDQ-8 independently predicted Handicap (adjusted R ² = 0.582; P = 0.007).

The LHS was easily completed by patients and caregivers. Patients were mild-moderately handicapped, which was strongly determined by motor disability and its impact on EDL, and poor QoL. Despite correlated, handicap and QoL seem to differ in what they measure, and handicap may have an added value to QoL. Handicap seems to be a good measure of perceived-health status in a broad sample of PD.