Long-term exposure to duodenal levodopa/carbidopa infusion therapy improves quality of life in relation especially to mobility, activities of daily living, and emotional well-being.

Background: Continuous duodenal levodopa infusion (DLI) is an effective therapy that improves quality of life (QoL) in advanced Parkinson's disease (PD). However, in which aspects improve the patients their QoL has been poorly documented.

Methods: We evaluated 39-item Parkinson's disease Quality of Life Questionnaire Summary Index score (PDQ-39SI) changes analyzing its different domains in nine patients with advanced PD treated with DLI.

Results: All the patients (64.7 ± 11.1 years, 55.5% men) improved PDQ-39SI 6 months after beginning with DLI (29.7 ± 8.6, P = 0.008) and after median duration infusion of 25.3 ± 8.8 months (34.8 ± 11.2, P = 0.008) compared with baseline (55.6 ± 11.5). All domains except social support improved significantly at 6 months. Mobility (P = 0.012), activities of daily living (P = 0.015), and emotional well-being (P = 0.008) improved significantly at the end of the follow-up.

Conclusions: DLI improves QoL in patients with advanced PD after short- and long-term exposure. Whereas all domains except social support improve after 6 months under DLI, only mobility, activities of daily living and emotional well-being improve significantly after long-term exposure to DLI.