Background. Hand functionality and finger dexterity are impaired in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). These disturbances lead to a dependency in activities of daily living (ADL) and poor quality of life (QoL). Objective. We aimed to evaluate whether a specific occupational therapy (OT) program is effective in improving finger and hand dexterity and its impact on ADL in PD patients. Methods. We retrospectively studied PD patients, hospitalized for a 4-week multidisciplinary intensive rehabilitation treatment (MIRT) between January 2015 and June 2018. All patients underwent 1 h/day OT treatment, 5 days a week. The primary outcome measure was the O’Connor finger dexterity test; secondary outcome measures were the Minnesota dexterity test, UPDRS II, and Self-Assessment Parkinson’s Disease Disability Scale (SPDDS). These measures were assessed at admission (T0) and discharge (T1). Results. Based on the Hoehn and Yahr scale (H&Y), patients were divided into two groups: 262 subjects in H&Y stage <3 (early-stage PD patients) and 220 in H&Y stage ≥3 (medium-advanced stage PD patients). As expected, at baseline, all measures were worse in higher H&Y stages. After treatment, both groups experienced significant improvements in all outcomes. Significant differences between early-stage and medium-advanced stage PD patients were observed only for the changes in UPDRS II, with a better improvement in patients in H&Y stage ≥3. Conclusions. We showed that PD patients who underwent a rehabilitation protocol including OT experienced improvements in finger dexterity and hand functionality. Our results underline the relevance of OT in improving autonomy and QoL in PD patients.

中文翻译：

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帕金森病患者的职业治疗：一项回顾性研究。

背景。帕金森病 (PD) 患者的手功能和手指灵活性受损。这些干扰导致对日常生活活动（ADL）的依赖和生活质量差（QoL）。客观。我们旨在评估特定的职业治疗 (OT) 计划是否能有效改善手指和手的灵活性及其对 PD 患者 ADL 的影响。方法. 我们回顾性研究了 2015 年 1 月至 2018 年 6 月期间住院接受为期 4 周的多学科强化康复治疗 (MIRT) 的 PD 患者。所有患者均接受 1 小时/天的 OT 治疗，每周 5 天。主要结果测量是奥康纳手指灵活性测试；次要结果测量是明尼苏达敏捷性测试、UPDRS II 和自我评估帕金森病残疾量表 (SPDDS)。这些措施在入院 (T0) 和出院 (T1) 时进行评估。结果. 根据 Hoehn 和 Yahr 量表 (H&Y)，将患者分为两组：262 名 H&Y 分期 <3 的受试者（早期 PD 患者）和 220 名 H&Y 期≥3 的受试者（中晚期 PD 患者）。正如预期的那样，在基线时，所有测量值在较高的 H&Y 阶段都更差。治疗后，两组的所有结果都有显着改善。仅在UPDRS II的变化方面观察到早期和中晚期PD患者之间的显着差异，其中H＆Y≥3的患者改善更好。结论。我们发现，接受包括 OT 在内的康复方案的 PD 患者手指灵活性和手部功能有所改善。我们的结果强调了 OT 在改善 PD 患者的自主性和生活质量方面的相关性。