Use of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment Short Version in Mild to Moderate Parkinson Disease

Objective To investigate the distribution, internal consistency reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF) in persons with mild to moderate Parkinson disease (PD). Design Cross-sectional. Setting Movement disorders center. Participants Convenience sample of people with PD (n=96) recruited from a movement disorders center and controls (n=60) recruited from the community (N=156). Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measure WHOQOL-BREF. Results The WHOQOL-BREF domain data were relatively normally distributed, and internal consistency reliability was acceptable (α=.65–.85). Participants with PD reported lower quality of life (QOL) than controls in all except the environment domain, and physical QOL was the most impaired domain in the PD group. Age, fatigue, and physical activity limitations predicted physical QOL; depression, fatigue, and apathy predicted psychological QOL; education, executive dysfunction, and apathy predicted social QOL; and age, education, depression, and apathy predicted environment QOL. Conclusions The WHOQOL-BREF is a suitable tool to assess QOL in patients with mild to moderate PD. It is relatively normally distributed and internally consistent; effectively discriminates between individuals with and without PD; and correlates with relevant demographic characteristics, PD-related impairments, and activity limitations.