Impaired Hand Function and Its Association With Self-Perceived Hand Functional Ability and Quality of Life in Parkinson Disease.

Objective: Comprehensive hand function in people with Parkinson disease (PD) has been underevaluated. The objectives were to compare self-perceived and objective hand functions of PD and controls, compare outcomes between more and less affected hand subgroups, and evaluate relationship between self-perceived and objective outcomes in subgroups.

Design: A total of 165 PD and 82 healthy participants completed the Jebsen-Taylor Hand Function Test, Purdue Pegboard Test, grip strength test, and Manual Ability Measure-16 in a cross-sectional study. PD participants completed the Parkinson Disease Questionnaire-39. Associations between objective and self-perceived/quality of life outcomes in PD groups were analyzed, and nondominant and dominant more affected subgroups performance was compared.

Results: PD participants had significantly worse performance in most Jebsen-Taylor Hand Function Test and all Purdue Pegboard Test items, lower Manual Ability Measure-16 scores, and poorer handgrip strength. Weak associations were found between dexterity, but not grip strength, and self-perceived functional hand ability and Parkinson Disease Questionnaire-39 scores in PD subgroups. For nondominant more affected subgroup, poorer dexterity was associated with better Parkinson Disease Questionnaire-39 Activity of Daily Living domain scores.

Conclusion: People with mild to moderate PD were shown to have poorer manual dexterity, reduced grip strength, and lower self-perceived functional hand ability than controls. Associations between dexterity and self-perceived outcomes highlight the importance of unimanual and bimanual training.