Does spouse participation influence quality of life reporting in patients with Parkinson's disease?

Purpose: To investigate whether patient-spouse co-reporting (patient reporting with assistance from their spouse) results in the same ratings of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) as patient ratings without co-reporting, and to assess whether mutuality of the marital relationship is a determinant of co-reported ratings. Patients are the best source of HRQoL; however, co-reporting is common in clinical settings, but has not been compared to independent patient reporting of HRQoL.

Methods: Fifty-nine Parkinson's disease (PD) patient-spouse pairs completed the Short Form Health Status Survey (SF-12), measuring mental and physical HRQoL.