Low back pain in Parkinson's disease: A cross-sectional study of its prevalence, and implications on functional capacity and quality of life.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of low back pain (LBP) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and its impact on functional capacity and quality of life.

METHODS

Patients with idiopathic PD answered a questionnaire and were submitted to a clinical and functional assessment. Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), Hoehn and Yahr Scale, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), McGill Pain Questionnaire (McGill), Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ), 39-item Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39) were used. In addition, the ability to contract transversus abdominis (TrA) was assessed.

RESULTS

One hundred and fifteen patients answered the questionnaire, and 95 (82.6 %) reported painful symptoms. Of these, 67 (58.3 %) had chronic LBP, and approximately 40 % patients reported its onset before diagnosis of PD. Higher scores in pain intensity, depressive symptoms and UPDRS II and III, more advanced stages of PD, and absence of TrA contraction determined poor functional limitation induced by LBP. However, pain intensity (McGill), severity of PD symptoms (UPDRS III) and absence of TrA contraction were identified as predictive factors for functional limitation and explained 66.1 % of the variance in the RMDQ. Pain intensity and LBP-related disability caused negative impact on the quality of life.

CONCLUSION

LBP is common in patients with PD and it causes disability and poor quality of life. Pain intensity, UPDRS III and absence of TrA contraction were the most significant predictive factors for disability assessed by the RMDQ.