Effects of 3‐4 Weeks of Multimodal Complex Treatment for Parkinson's Disease on Motor Function and Quality of Life:A Retrospective Study

<p>Purpose: The effectiveness of multimodal complex treatment for Parkinson's disease (PD‐MCT) has recently attracted attention. However, there are differences in the PD‐MCT content across institutions. Therefore, we aimed to elucidate the effectiveness of PD‐MCT at our hospital and contribute to determining the optimal intensity and duration of the intervention.</p><p>Methods: This retrospective study enrolled 144 inpatients who underwent PD‐MCT at our hospital between March 2015 and June 2023. The primary endpoints were the Movement Disorder Society‐Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale part III (MDS‐UPDRS part III) before and after admission to assess motor function, and the Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire‐39 summary index (PDQ‐39 SI) before admission and 1 month after discharge to assess quality of life. The PD‐MCT at our hospital was conducted during a 3‐4‐weeks hospital stay, with approximately 12 h of rehabilitation per week. After selecting participants with no missing data, 58 were selected for the MDS‐UPDRS part III comparison, and eight were selected for the PDQ‐39 comparison. The analysis was conducted using a paired t‐test for normally distributed data and a Wilcoxon signed‐rank sum test for non‐normally distributed data, with a significance level of 5%.</p><p>Results: The total score of MDS‐UPDRS part III was 34.7±13.3 before admission and 28.6±12.3 at discharge, and the PDQ‐39 SI was 34.0±13.5 before admission and 23.9±9.9 1 month after discharge, showing significant improvement (p<0.01 and p<0.05, respectively).</p><p>Conclusion: Motor function and quality of life significantly improved in this study. In particular, the improvement in the quality of life was sustained even 1 month after discharge. However, the study was retrospective, and many participants were excluded during the selection process, which may have caused a selection bias.</p>