Effects of Combined Psychological and Functional Exercise Interventions on Emotion, Life Quality, and Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Levels in Patients With Parkinson's Disease: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Tao Ding, Jing Zhang, Xue Jiang et al.
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In 30 seconds
This randomized controlled trial evaluated a 12-week programme combining psychological support and functional exercise, added to routine care, in 172 patients with Parkinson’s disease. Compared with routine care alone, the intervention group had significantly lower anxiety, depression, PDQ-39, and MDS-UPDRS scores, and higher Barthel Index scores and serum BDNF levels (P < 0.001). Adherence was also higher with the combined programme: 90.70% vs 76.74% (P = 0.01). The findings suggest benefits across emotional, quality-of-life, functional, and biomarker outcomes over the intervention period.
Key findings
- At 12 weeks, anxiety, depression, PDQ-39, and MDS-UPDRS scores were significantly lower in the intervention group than in controls (P < 0.001).
- Barthel Index scores and serum BDNF levels were higher with the combined intervention than with routine care (P < 0.001).
- Adherence was 90.70% in the intervention group versus 76.74% in the control group (P = 0.01).
Why it matters
The trial reports that a combined psychological and functional exercise programme was associated with improvements across several patient-relevant domains, alongside higher adherence. Considering emotional symptoms, daily functioning, and quality of life together may be useful when evaluating supportive interventions for Parkinson’s disease. The BDNF result is a biomarker finding and should be interpreted separately from the reported clinical outcomes.
What to keep in mind
Outcomes were assessed before and after a 12-week intervention; the abstract does not report longer-term follow-up or the magnitude of between-group differences.