PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Grosset, D
AU  - Taurah, L
AU  - Burn, D J
AU  - MacMahon, D
AU  - Forbes, A
AU  - Turner, K
AU  - Bowron, A
AU  - Walker, R
AU  - Findley, L
AU  - Foster, O
AU  - Patel, K
AU  - Clough, C
AU  - Castleton, B
AU  - Smith, S
AU  - Carey, G
AU  - Murphy, T
AU  - Hill, J
AU  - Brechany, U
AU  - McGee, P
AU  - Reading, S
AU  - Brand, G
AU  - Kelly, L
AU  - Breen, K
AU  - Ford, S
AU  - Baker, M
AU  - Williams, A
AU  - Hearne, J
AU  - Qizilbash, N
AU  - Chaudhuri, K Ray
TI  - A multicentre longitudinal observational study of changes in self reported health status in people with Parkinson’s disease left untreated at diagnosis
AID  - 10.1136/jnnp.2006.098327
DP  - 2007 May 01
TA  - Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry
PG  - 465--469
VI  - 78
IP  - 5
4099  - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/78/5/465.short
4100  - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/78/5/465.full
SO  - J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry2007 May 01; 78
AB  - Background: The issue of when to start treatment in Parkinson’s disease (PD) remains controversial. Some favour treatment at diagnosis while others opt for a “wait and watch” policy. The effect of the latter policy on the self reported health status of people with PD is unknown. Aims: To record self reported health status through longitudinal use of a validated PD specific questionnaire (PDQ-39) in untreated PD patients in multiple centres in the UK. To compare patients who were left untreated with those who were offered treatment during follow-up. Methods: A multicentre, prospective, “real life” observational audit based study addressing patient reported outcomes in relation to self reported health status and other sociodemographic details. Results: 198 untreated PD were assessed over a mean period of 18 months. During two follow-up assessments, the self reported health status scores in all eight domains of the PDQ-39 and the overall PDQ-39 summary index worsened significantly (p<0.01) in patients left untreated. In a comparative group in whom treatment was initiated at or soon after diagnosis, there was a trend towards improvement in self reported health status scores after treatment was started. Conclusions: This study addresses for the first time self reported health status, an indicator of health related quality of life, in untreated PD. The findings may strengthen the call for re-evaluation of the policy to delay treatment in newly diagnosed patients with PD.