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Reliability and validity of PDQ-39: a quality-of-life measure for patients with PD in China

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Abstract

The syndromes of Parkinson’s disease (PD) have impacts on health-related quality of life (HRQL). The 39-item Parkinson’s disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39) was the first specific and a consistent instrument for the evaluation of HRQL in PD patients.

Purpose

To test the reliability and validity of Chinese version PDQ-39.

Methods

Hundred and twenty-six PD without cognitive impairment were enrolled. The Chinese version of SF-36 was used to evaluate the congruent validity of PDQ-39 between related domains. Both PDQ-39 and SF-36 scales were fulfilled by the patients themselves.

Results

Five of eight subscales of PDQ-39 met the acceptable standards of reliability (Cronbach’s α coefficient >0.80), while the other three subscales (cognition, communication, and bodily discomfort) failed to reach the above standards as reported by the others. All the item-to-subscale correlations (range: 0.457–0.887) met the minimal acceptable item convergent validity criterion of 0.40 (P < 0.001). Correlation between PDQ-39 subscales and scales of the SF-36 had high negative correlations with a range of −0.759 to −0.124. Four of them had significant negative correlations (P < 0.0001).

Conclusions

The Chinese version of PDQ-39 is a reliable and valid instrument for Chinese PD patients. It is recommended as the most appropriate HRQL tool for PD.

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Abbreviations

PDQ-39:

The 39-item Parkinson’s disease questionnaire

SF-36:

Short-form 36-item health survey questionnaire

HRQL:

Health-related quality of life

MMSE:

The mini-mental state examination

UPDRS:

The unified Parkinson’s disease rating scale

PDSI:

The Parkinson’s disease summary index

PDQL:

Parkinson’s disease quality of life questionnaire

PIMS:

Parkinson’s impact scale

NHP:

General Nottingham health profile

SCOPA-PS:

Scales for outcomes in Parkinson’s disease-psychosocial questionnaire

PDQUALIF:

Parkinson’s disease quality of life scale

PLQ:

Parkinson quality of life questionnaire

NMSQuest:

Non-motor symptoms questionnaire

US:

United States

ICC:

The intra-class correlation coefficients

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Acknowledgments

Financial support was received from the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program, No.2006AA02A408), the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, No.2011CB504101), and the Beijing High Standard Health Human Resource Cultural Program in Health System (No.2009-1-12). We thank Dr. Lin-Juan Sun and Dr. Jing–Jing Wu for their help to this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology and Neurobiology, Beijing Institute of Geriatrics and Xuanwu Hospital of the Capital Medical University, #45 Changchun Street, 100053, Beijing, China

    Jing-Lin Zhang & Piu Chan

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  1. Jing-Lin Zhang
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  2. Piu Chan
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Correspondence to Piu Chan.

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Zhang, JL., Chan, P. Reliability and validity of PDQ-39: a quality-of-life measure for patients with PD in China. Qual Life Res 21, 1217–1221 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-011-0026-1

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