Parkinson’sdisease (PD) belongs to a group of neurodegenerative conditions called motorsystem disorders, which are the result of the loss of dopamine-producing braincells. The four primary symptoms of PD are tremor, or trembling in hands, arms,legs, jaw, and face rigidity, or stiffness of the limbs and trunk bradykinesia,or slowness of movement, postural instability, or impaired balance andcoordination 1. Theprevalenceof the disease ranges from 41 people per 100,000 in the fourth decade of lifeto more than 1,900 people per 100,000 among those 80 and older 2. Patientsare usually treated with Levodopa, COMT Inhibitors, Dopamine Agonists,Non-Dopaminergic Therapy, etc 3. Therefore, auditing of prescriptions relatedto the disease is essential to increase the therapeutic efficacy and todecrease the side effects & also to provide feedback to theprescribers. The main aim of this drug utilization study is to facilitaterational drug use and knowing the efficacy of each one of them 4.
Qualityof Life (QoL) is a multi-dimensional construct, which consists of at leastthree broad domains: physical, mental and social. In the field of medicine,researchers and physicians have often used health-related quality of lifeconcept, which specifically focuses on the impact of an illness and/ortreatment on patients’ perception of their status of health and on subjectivewell-being or satisfaction with life 5. Therefore,evaluation of the severity of any disease should include not only the clinicalfactors but also the psychological & social factors pertaining with thepatient. Parkinson’s Disease has a profound negative impact on the Quality ofLife (QoL) as pointed out by numerous studies, patients suffer from fatigue,dementia, emotional problems, sleep disorders, difficulty in speech andbalance, depression, diminished cognitive functions and several other lifestylechanges 6. Foranalysis of QoL, some questionnaires were developed exclusively for patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD).The best known are two scales, Quality of LifeQuestionnaire (PDQL). Martinez-Martin believesthat the quality Parkinson’s Disease.
Questionnaire(PDQ-39) and Parkinson’s Disease of lifescales are more useful than other scales inevaluating the results of rehabilitation and drugtreatment of Parkinson’s disease or neurosurgery 7. Hence, Parkinson’sDisease Questionnaire- 39 is being used in this study.
