Survey of Activity levels for patients with Parkinson’s disease at home

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the activity levels of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) at home and their impact on outdoor activity levels. A survey was conducted on the utilization of long-term care insurance services and outdoor activities among home-based PD patients in two regions, and differences in two regions were examined using the chi-square test. The results showed that the utilization rate of long-term care insurance services was 64. 3 ％ , with day service programs and homebased rehabilitation being the most common services used. The primary purposes of outings were medical visits and shopping, while social and leisure activities were less frequent. Regional differences were observed in the purpose of outdoor activities, with "hobbies and entertainment" and the use of "wheelchairs" being notable factors. Although the frequency of outdoor activities decreased in winter compared to summer, opportunities for outdoor outings once a week were still available. Results from ordinal logistic regression analysis using outdoor frequency as the dependent variable revealed that "age," "gender," and "presence of long-term care insurance service utilization" were significant associated factors.