The Impact of Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Perceived Quality of Life in Patients With Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Progressive supranuclear paralysis (PSP) is an atypical parkinsonian disorder associated with oculomotor features, motor disturbances, along with cognitive problems and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Quality of life (QoL) is often assessed in relation to the motor symptoms. Our aim was to investigate the impact of neuropsychiatric symptoms on QoL.

METHODS

We used data from 40 patients meeting criteria for probable PSP from the Rossy PSP Centre. Motor and neuropsychiatric symptoms, cognition, functionality, disease severity, and quality of life were examined using validated scales. We performed a linear regression model using multiple imputations with chained equations with 500 sets.

RESULTS

We found that lower quality of life scores were related to higher anxiety and depression and the interaction between these two. There was a decrease in the quality of life of -3.7 points (95% CI: -6.1 to -1.1) for every one point of increase on the depression scale; there was a decrease in the quality of life scale of -4.3 points for each point of increase on the depression score (95% CI: -7.8 to -0.8). The fully adjusted linear model showed that motor scores, cognition, and other neuropsychiatric symptoms were not associated with quality of life.

CONCLUSION

We found that both anxiety and depression significantly impacted quality of life. Given the prevalence of non-motor manifestations in PSP, these results emphasize the importance of comprehensive evaluations to better capture the multi-faceted impairments seen in PSP that have a meaningful impact on the patient's life.