Cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric evaluations of the Turkish version of Parkinson Fatigue Scale

Tools to assess the quality of life in patients with Parkinson's disease: a systematic review

INTRODUCTION

The clinical, social, and economic implications of Parkinson's disease (PD) are significant; disability occurs leading to a low quality of life (QoL). Information on the QoL of patients with PD and studies on the relationship between QoL and motor and cognitive function are necessary for both research and clinical use to make informed decisions in healthcare and rehabilitation. The aim of this study was to determine which scales are most used to assess QoL in patients with PD.

AREA COVERED

A literature search was conducted in MEDLINE, Scopus, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Web of Science. Two authors independently identified eligible studies based on predefined inclusion criteria and extracted the data. Study quality and the risk of bias were assessed using the COSMIN checklist.

EXPERT OPINION

116 suitable studies were included, and 42 different instruments were identified. The most frequently used scales were the 39-items and 8-items Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39) (PDQ-8). These findings suggest further investigation of existing PD outcome measures would benefit patients, researchers, and clinicians. Validated, universal outcome measures are required to allow comparisons across practice; therefore, we recommend that future researchers use a common set of outcome assessments based on the results of this review.

Brazilian version of the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory for Parkinson’s disease

Abstract Introduction: The multidimensional fatigue inventory (MFI) has not been applied in Brazilian Parkinson`s disease (PD) population due to the lack of validation. Objective: The aim of this study was to cross-culturally adapt, to validate, and investigate the psychometric properties of Brazilian version of the MFI in PD. Method: Idiopathic PD individuals (N = 90) were recruited. The MFI was translated into Brazilian Portuguese using established forward-backward translation procedures, and the psychometric properties were evaluated. All individuals were assessed by socio-clinical questionnaire, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS Part I-IV), Hoehn-Yahr disability scale (HY), hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS), fatigue severity scale (FSS), Parkinson Fatigue Scale (PFS-16) and MFI-PD/ BR with retest of the MFI-PD/BR after seven days. Results: The adaptation phase kept the same items of original MFI-PD. No data missing, floor nor ceiling effects were found. The overall Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the 20 items was 0.81, ranging from 0.73 to 0.81 for each of the five subscales. Bland and Altman analysis showed no systematic differences between assessments. The intraclass correlation coefficient test-retest was higher or equal 0.70 (p < 0.01) for the MFI-PD/BR score, which was moderately correlated with the HADS, MDS-UPDRS score (motor examination, motor and non-motor experiences of daily living and motor complications), FSS and PFS-16. It was revealed the MFI-PD/ BR > 55 points as cut-off point to indicate fatigued subjects with accuracy of 0.84 (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The MFI-PD/BR can be considered a valid and reproducible instrument for assessing PD-related fatigue.

Validation study of the Parkinson's Fatigue Scale in advanced Parkinson's disease

Purpose: To validate the Parkinson’s Fatigue Scale (PFS-16) in advanced Parkinson Disease (APD) patients using the scale’s Spanish version.

Patients and methods: In a clinical study for Levodopa-Carbidopa Intestinal Gel (LCIG), 59 patients were assessed over six months using the PFS-16 and other instruments. The psychometric properties of the PFS-16 were then analyzed.

Results: Patients (60.7% men) were aged 68.02±7.43 years. PD duration was 12.57±5.97 years. Median Hoehn and Yahr (HY) stage of patients in “on” was 2 (range: 1–4). There were excellent data quality and acceptability for the PFS-16 as a whole, except for moderate-to-high ceiling effects in its items. Two factors explained 67% of the variance, yet parallel analysis demonstrated the unidimensional nature of the PFS-16, whose internal consistency was satisfactory (Cronbach’s alpha=0.93; item homogeneity coefficient=0.19, and item total-corrected correlations=0.50–0.84). PFS-16 total score showed moderate-to-high correlations with fatigue-specific questions within clinical tools, namely item 20 of the Beck Depression Inventory (r_S=0.65) and item 4 of the Non-Motor Symptoms Scale (r_S=0.33). Weak-to-moderate correlations were observed between the PFS-16 and measures of anxiety, depression, apathy, and quality of life. There were no significant differences in PFS-16 total scores when grouped by age, sex, time from diagnosis, HY, and CGI-S. After treatment with LCIG, the relative change in PFS-16 total score was −17.6% and the effect size (Cohen’s d) was 0.92. Moderate correlations between changes in the PFS-16 and several other clinical tools were also found.

Conclusion: In APD patients, the PFS-16 showed satisfactory acceptability, internal consistency, construct validity, and responsiveness.