Volume 27, Issue 2 p. 211-218
Research Article

Impact of apathy on health-related quality of life in recently diagnosed Parkinson's disease: The ANIMO study§

Julián Benito-León MD, PhD

Corresponding Author

Julián Benito-León MD, PhD

Department of Neurology, University Hospital “12 de Octubre”, Madrid, Spain

Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas, Madrid, Spain

Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Complutense University, Madrid, Spain

Avda. de la Constitución 73, portal 3, 7° Izquierda, E-28821 Coslada, Madrid, SpainSearch for more papers by this author
Esther Cubo MD, PhD

Esther Cubo MD, PhD

Department of Neurology, Hospital “General Yagüe,” Burgos, Spain

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Carlos Coronell MD, PhD

Carlos Coronell MD, PhD

Medical Advising Department, Boehringer Ingelheim España, Barcelona, Spain

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on behalf of the ANIMO Study Group

on behalf of the ANIMO Study Group

Medical Advising Department, Boehringer Ingelheim España, Barcelona, Spain

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First published: 20 July 2011
Citations: 100

Funding agencies: The ANIMO was supported by an educational grant from Boehringer Ingelheim Spain.

Relevant conflicts of interest/financial disclosures: Julián Benito-León is supported by NIH R01 NS039422 from the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD).

§

Full financial disclosures and author roles may be found in the online version of this article.

This article first published online 20 July 2011. The article has since changed. The phrase “than did participants who did not report any problems” was changed to “than participants who scored ≥0.89.”

Abstract

The impact of apathy on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in recently diagnosed Parkinson's disease (PD) has not been systematically investigated. The objective of this cross-sectional survey (ANIMO study) was to examine the contribution of apathy to HRQOL in a Spanish sample of recently diagnosed PD patients. PD patients, diagnosed within 2 years of inclusion, were recruited at 102 outpatient clinics in 82 communities throughout Spain. Apathy was quantified using the Lille Apathy Rating Scale and HRQOL with the EuroQol-5D questionnaire. A mean EuroQol-5D index score of 0.89 obtained from population references in Spain was used as the cutoff for this study. The relationship between apathy and the dichotomized EuroQol-5D index score (<0.89 [lower HRQOL] vs ≥0.89 [reference]) was examined using multiple logistic regression analysis, adjusting for sociodemographic and clinical variables. We consecutively recruited 557 patients (60.3% men) with a mean age of 68.8 ± 9.7 years. Apathy was diagnosed in 291 (52.2%) and was related to problems in each of the EuroQoL dimensions. Apathetic PD patients showed EuroQol-5D index scores significantly lower than those without apathy (0.64 vs 0.83). In an adjusted model, apathetic PD patients were 2.49 times more likely to have lower HRQOL than nonapathetic patients (odds ratio, 2.49; 95% confidence interval, 1.49–4.15, P < 0.01). Apathy is very common in those with recently diagnosed PD and is one of the major clinical determinants of HRQOL in this disease. It should be one of the primary concerns among clinicians who provide treatment to individuals affected by PD. © 2011 Movement Disorder Society