Integrated Multidisciplinary Care for Parkinson's Disease: a Controlled Trial

PD is a complex disorder, with motor as well as non-motor symptoms. Despite the complexity of PD, management of the disease is often 'monodisciplinary' since most patients are only treated by a neurologist. Stimulating compensatory strategies by allied health professionals might offer additional therapeutic relief, but this assumption is mainly based on theoretical arguments and expert opinion. Even less is known about the claim that a multidisciplinary team of multiple professionals active in complementary domains (e.g. physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy) is superior to management by each of these professionals alone.

This study anticipates to provide more insight in the clinical effectiveness and health care costs of multidisciplinary treatment in PD. Therefore, our multidisciplinary care concept (a comprehensive assessment by a dedicated multidisciplinary team and subsequent treatment by specifically trained health professionals) that is tailored to the patients' individual needs will be compared to usual care in terms of effectiveness and costs.

Inclusion criteria

• Patients with Idiopathic PD, diagnosed according to the Brain Bank Criteria of the UK Parkinson's Disease Society
• Regular control by the neurologist
• Living independently in the community
• Able to complete the trial questionnaires

Exclusion criteria

• Atypical parkinsonian syndromes
• Hoehn and Yahr stage 5
• Severe cognitive impairment (MMSE<24)
• Presence of other neurological disorders
• Severe co-morbidity (e.g. cancer)
• Planned surgical procedure for PD within the intervention period
• Patients who have already visited the Multidisciplinary Assessment Center