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Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39)
Availability
Please visit this website for more information about the instrument: Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire
Classification
Supplemental - Highly Recommended: Parkinson's Disease (PD)
Recommendations for use: Indicated for studies requiring a Parkinson's Disease-Specific Health-Related Quality of Life measure.
Short Description of Instrument
This 39-item scale has eight domains: mobility (10 items), activities of daily living (six items), emotional wellbeing (six items), stigma (four items), social support (three items), cognitions (four items), communication (three items), and bodily discomfort (three items).
Comments/Special Instructions
The PDQ-39 is a disease-specific patient-reported instrument with 39 questions in 8 domains, covering physical, emotional and social domains in PD. A shortened version with one question in each domain has also been developed and validated.
Scoring and Psychometric Properties
Scoring: Items are rated on a scale of 0-4 (0 = no change and 4 = most severe). Lower scores relate less impact of disease.
 
Psychometric Properties: The ICC for PDQ-39 summary score in most studies is >0.7 indicating good reliability. Cronbach's alpha varies between domains. The scale has good face and construct validity and has been shown to be sensitive to change in a number of trials.
Rationale/Justification
Strengths: This is the most widely used Health-related Quality of Life (Hr-QoL) instrument used in PD research, with extensively studied clinimetric properties and demonstrated sensitivity to change. It was developed on interviews and patients. It is available is a number of languages, including for the PDQ-8 version.
 
Weaknesses: It is not currently validated in patients with cognitive impairment, and proxy-assessments correlate moderately with patient report. The clinimetric properties are not as good for some domain scores as for the overall scale.
References
Key References:
Peto V, Jenkinson C, Fitzpatrick R, Greenhall R. The development and validation of a short measure of functioning and well being for individuals with Parkinson's disease. Qual Life Res. 1995 Jun;4(3):241-8.
 
Jenkinson C, Fitzpatrick R, Peto V, Greenhall R, Hyman N. The Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39): development and validation of a Parkinson's disease summary index score. Age Ageing. 1997 Sep;26(5):353-7.
 
Additional References:
Bushnell DM, Martin ML. Quality of life and Parkinson's disease: translation and validation of the US Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39). Qual Life Res. 1999 Jun;8(4):345-50.
 
Fitzpatrick R, Peto V, Jenkinson C, Greenhall R, Hyman N. Health-related quality of life in Parkinson's disease: a study of outpatient clinic attendees. Mov Disord. 1997 Nov;12(6):916-22.
 
Hagell P, Nygren C. The 39 item Parkinson's disease questionnaire (PDQ-39) revisited: implications for evidence based medicine. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2007 Nov;78(11):1191-8.
 
Marinus J, Ramaker C, van Hilten JJ, Stiggelbout AM. Health related quality of life in Parkinson's disease: a systematic review of disease specific instruments. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2002 Feb;72(2):241-8.
 
Document last updated August 2022