The Effects of Parkinson's Disease on Caregivers and People with Parkinson's Disease: A Literature Review

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a complex, slowly progressive, neurodegenerative, neurological condition characterised by a wide range of motor problems such as movement disorders, issues with gait and balance, and difficulty with swallowing and speech. In addition, sufferers also experience non-motor symptoms such as disorder of sleep, postural hypotension, mood alterations, lethargy, and cognitive dysfunction. As PD progresses to an advanced stage, people experience periods of debilitating physical and neurological problems and their caregivers face increasing complexity of care. Many people with PD require the support of a caregiver to attend to activities of daily living. This paper will review the literature on the effects of Parkinson's disease on both the patient and caregiver. Findings highlight the progressive nature of the disease affecting both functional and affective domains, and the need for caregiver support to enable the delivery of quality of care to this group throughout the disease trajectory

Health-Related Quality of Life of Caregivers of People with Parkinson's Disease in Singapore

Introduction: To investigate the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of caregivers for people with Parkinson's disease (PD) living in Singapore. Methods: A face-to-face survey was conducted with a cross-section of caregivers for people with PD. The caregivers were recruited from a PD clinic at an acute tertiary hospital in Singapore and from the members of the Singapore Parkinson's Disease Society. HRQoL was quantified using the SF-36v2® Health Survey, an internationally validated multi-purpose short-form health survey. Results: Ninety-four caregivers completed the survey (a response rate of 57.3%). The respondents were all above 21 years old, with most falling in the 51 and >61 years age range. Seventy-four of the respondents (78.7%) were female. As a whole, the caregivers scored lower in all 6 health domains compared to the general population (adjusted for age, gender and ethnic group) in Singapore. The were significant differences for the “Role Physical” and the “Role Emotional” domains, at 3.9 and 3.3 respectively. Caregivers had a much lower mental component summary (-2.4) when compared to the physical component summary (-1.6). Conclusion: It is important to identify the factors that influence the HRQoL of caregivers so that policies can be developed to lower the burden of PD on caregivers. Assessing the well-being of caregivers may help to identify individuals at risk. The well-being of caregivers has the potential to influence quality of life of people with PD