Article

PURPOSE: To explore how social support is associated with anxiety and depression
in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients controlling for gender, disease duration and
disease severity. METHODS: The sample consisted of 124 patients (52.4% male; mean
age 68.1 +/- 8.4 years; mean disease duration 6.3 +/- 5.5 years). Anxiety and
depression were measured with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, social
support with the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support and disease
severity with the Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale. Data were analyzed
using linear regression. RESULTS: Gender, disease duration, disease severity and
social support explained 31% of the total variance in anxiety in younger PD
patients but did not significantly contribute to the explanation of depression.
In the older group, this model explained 41% of the variance in depression but
did not significantly contribute to the explanation of anxiety. CONCLUSION: PD
patients experience the positive influence of social support differently
according to age. In the younger group, disease duration plays the primary role
regarding anxiety. In the older group, poor social support especially from
friends is associated with more depression after controlling for the relevant
variables. Implications of Rehabilitation PD is a disease of older age with a
neurodegenerative character and treatment should focus on increasing quality of
life. Anxiety and depression are common co-morbidities in PD patients. The
support network should also be screened regularly and involved in enhancing the
quality of life.

Langue : ANGLAIS