August 13, 2025

Parkinson's disease quality of life at 12 months comparing invasive device-aided therapy with oral treatment.

Key Points

Device-aided therapy leads to a significant quality of life improvement of -5.0 on the PDQ-39 at 12 months.
Participants on device-aided therapy experienced notable enhancements in Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale scores.
The study matched 608 people based on eligibility for device-aided therapy and demographic characteristics.
Findings suggest that device-aided therapy may provide meaningful quality of life improvements in Parkinson's disease.

Abstract

Real-world impact of device-aided therapy on quality of life (QoL) in people with Parkinson's remains unknown. This large, retrospective, observational study assessed QoL in people transitioning to device-aided therapy (deep brain stimulation or carbidopa-levodopa enteral suspension) vs. those continuing oral medications. Cohorts were matched based on clinical/demographic characteristics and device-aided therapy eligibility. Primary and secondary outcomes included change from baseline (CFB) to month 12 in 39-item Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39) and Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) scores, respectively. Of 608 people (oral therapy n = 295; device-aided therapy n = 313), most were male, White, and aged ≥ 60 years. Positive CFB to month 12 in PDQ-39 was significantly greater for device-aided therapy vs. oral therapy (-5.0 95% CI, -5.9 to -4.2 vs. 0.9 0.3-1.5; p < 0.001). UPDRS II-IV scores improved for the device-aided therapy group. People transitioning to device-aided therapy experienced clinically meaningful QoL improvements.

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