Background. There are very few epidemiological studies investigating Parkinson’s disease (PD) in Africa. The hundreds of local languages and dialects make traditional screening and clinical evaluation tools difficult to use. Objective. The objective of the study was to validate two commonly used PD questionnaires in an African population. Methods. The PD Screening Questionnaire (PDSQ) and Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39) were modified and translated into Afrikaans, Setswana, and isiZulu and administered to a sample of healthy local residents. We assessed the internal consistencies and cluster characteristics of the questionnaires, using a Cronbach’s alpha test and exploratory factor analysis. The questionnaires were then administered to a population-based sample of 416 research participants. We evaluated the correlations between the questionnaires and both a timed motor task and the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale motor subsection 3 (UPDRS3), using locally weighted scatterplot smoothing (LOWESS) regression analysis and Spearman’s rank correlation. Results. Both questionnaires had high overall internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.86 and 0.95, respectively). The modified PDQ-39 had evidence of five subscales, with Factor 1 explaining 57% and Factor 2 explaining 14%, of the variance in responses. The PDSQ and PDQ-39 scores were correlated with the UPDRS3 score (ρ = 0.35, ; and ρ = 0.28, , respectively). Conclusion. The translated PDSQ and PDQ-39 questionnaires demonstrated high internal consistency and correlations with clinical severity of parkinsonism and a timed motor task, suggesting that they are valid tools for field-based epidemiological studies.

中文翻译：

---

南非帕金森病相关问卷的验证。

背景。很少有流行病学研究调查非洲的帕金森病 (PD)。数百种当地语言和方言使传统的筛查和临床评估工具难以使用。客观。该研究的目的是验证非洲人群中两种常用的 PD 问卷。方法. PD 筛查问卷 (PDSQ) 和帕金森病问卷 (PDQ-39) 被修改并翻译成南非荷兰语、塞茨瓦纳语和伊西祖鲁语，并应用于健康的当地居民样本。我们使用 Cronbach's alpha 检验和探索性因素分析评估了问卷的内部一致性和聚类特征。然后将问卷分配给 416 名研究参与者的基于人群的样本。我们使用局部加权散点图平滑 (LOWESS) 回归分析和 Spearman 等级相关性评估了问卷与定时运动任务和统一帕金森病评定量表运动第 3 小节 (UPDRS3) 之间的相关性。结果. 两份问卷都具有较高的整体内部一致性（Cronbach's alpha = 0.86 和 0.95，分别）。修改后的 PDQ-39 有五个分量表的证据，其中因子 1 解释了响应方差的 57%，因子 2 解释了 14%。PDSQ 和 PDQ-39 评分与 UPDRS3 评分相关 ( ρ  = 0.35,; 和ρ  = 0.28，，分别）。结论。翻译后的 PDSQ 和 PDQ-39 问卷显示出高度的内部一致性和与帕金森病临床严重程度和定时运动任务的相关性，表明它们是基于现场的流行病学研究的有效工具。