Gender Differences and Quality of Life in Parkinson's Disease

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 18; no. 1; p. 198
• Main Authors: Crispino, Pietro, Gino, Miriam, Barbagelata, Elena, Ciarambino, Tiziana, Politi, Cecilia, Ambrosino, Immacolata, Ragusa, Rosalia, Marranzano, Marina, Biondi, Antonio, Vacante, Marco
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 29-12-2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Activities of Daily Living; Animal cognition; Brain; Depression; Disease; Dopamine; Enzymes; Fatigue; Female; Females; Free radicals; Gender; Gender aspects; Gender differences; Gene expression; Genotype & phenotype; Hemoglobin; Humans; Information processing; Kinases; Male; Males; Metabolism; Mutation; Neurodegeneration; Parkinson Disease - epidemiology; Parkinson's disease; Pathogenesis; Psychological aspects; Quality of Life; Review; Sex differences; Sex Factors; Signal transduction; Signs and symptoms; Womens health; gender; quality of life; levodopa; dopamine; Parkinson’s disease
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18010198

Parkinson's disease has been found to significantly affect health-related quality of life. The gender differences of the health-related quality of life of subjects with Parkinson's disease have been observed in a number of studies. These differences have been reported in terms of the age at onset, clinical manifestations, and response to therapy. In general, women with Parkinson's disease showed more positive disease outcomes with regard to emotion processing, non-motor symptoms, and cognitive functions, although women report more Parkinson's disease-related clinical manifestations. Female gender predicted poor physical functioning and socioemotional health-related quality of life, while male gender predicted the cognitive domain of health-related quality of life. Some studies reported gender differences in the association between health-related quality of life and non-motor symptoms. Depression and fatigue were the main causes of poorer health-related quality of life in women, even in the early stages of Parkinson's disease. The aim of this review was to collect the best available evidence on gender differences in the development of Parkinson's disease symptoms and health-related quality of life.