Study of the quality of life in swallowing in patients with Parkinson's disease

Estudo da qualidade de vida em deglutição de parkinsonianos

THESES

Study of the quality of life in swallowing in patients with Parkinson's disease (Abstract)^*. Dissertation. Recife, 2010

Danielle Carneiro de Menezes^**

INTRODUCTION: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic and progressive disease, caused by the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the black substance, which results in changes in the motor system, such as resting tremor, bradykinesia, muscle rigidity and changes in postural reflexes. With the general worsening of the clinical condition, the Parkinson's patient can develop problems with swallowing, which represents a functional decline causing lower quality of life (QOL).

OBJECTIVE: To assess the quality of life in swallowing among individuals with and without Parkinson's disease.

Method: The study was approved by the Committee for Ethics in Research involving Humans. The population comprised 103 individuals: 62 individuals with idiopathic PD and 41 normal subjects. For the study we used the following instruments: original scale of Hoehn and Yahr Stages and the Quality of Life in Swallowing Questionnaire (SWAL-QOL).

RESULTS: From the data analysis, it can be seen that there is a significant difference between the QOL in swallowing of PD patients, especially from stage 1 to 4 of the disease, according to the overall score. Regarding the specific areas that the questionnaire assesses, there was a significant difference in the fields of burden, duration of meal times, communication, social function, sleep and fatigue, when comparing stages 1 and 2 with stage 4. It was found that individuals in any stage of PD present a highly significant difference (p<0.0001) in QOL in swallowing compared to subjects without the disease, according to the overall score of the questionnaire. In the analysis of the domains of the questionnaire, it was found that the significant differences occur after the second stage. After this stage the score decreased significantly, representing the decline in quality of life.

CONCLUSION: The quality of life in swallowing of Parkinson's patients is impaired as the disease progresses. The application of SWAL-QOL in the studied population provides relevant information to health-care professionals about swallowing and other manifestations resulting from the decline of this function, which allows a better delineation of care.

Key words: Parkinson's disease, quality of life, swallowing, scale.

*

Estudo da qualidade de vida em deglutição de parkinsonianos (Resumo). Dissertação de Mestrado. Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, UFPE (Área: Neurociências). Orientador: Otávio Gomes Lins. Co-orientador: Maria das Graças Wanderley de Sales Coriolano.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  20 May 2011
• Date of issue
  2011