Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Apr-Jun;29(2):113-9.

Dispositional optimism, depression, disability and quality of life in Parkinson's disease

Annalisa Gison, Valentina Dall'Armi, Valentina Donati, Federica Rizza, Salvatore Giaquinto

Dispositional optimism, depression, disability and quality of life in Parkinson's disease

Annalisa Gison et al. Funct Neurol. 2014 Apr-Jun.

Abstract

Very little research on dispositional optimism (DO) has been carried out in the field of Parkinson's disease (PD). The present cross-sectional study, focusing on this personality trait, was performed with two main aims: i) to compare DO between patients with PD and a control group (CG); ii) to perform, in the PD group, a regression analysis including health-related variables, such as depression, anxiety, quality of life (QoL) and activities of daily living. Seventy PD participants and 70 healthy volunteers were enrolled in the study. The Mann-Whitney test was used to compare life orientation between the PD and CG groups. In the PD group, Pearson's correlation analysis was used to investigate the relationship between the measures of DO and the other variables. Means of log-linear regression were also used. Mean ratios adjusted for sex, age, education, and severity of disease were estimated, with relative 95% confidence intervals and p-values. The main results were as follows: i) no significant difference in DO was found between the PD participants and the CG; ii) DO was positively associated with QoL and emotional distress and inversely correlated with the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale; iii) DO was not correlated with disability. In conclusion, high DO predicts a satisfactory quality of life, low emotional distress and reduced disease severity in PD.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Correlation of LOT-R values with the other study variables. r=coefficient from Pearson’s correlation analysis; statistically significant correlation: p<0.05 LOT-R= Life Orientation Test-Revised version; WHO-5= WHO-5 Well-being Index; HADS=Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; UPDRS=Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale
Figure 2
Figure 2
Relationships between LOT-R scores and well-being, anxiety and depression, disability and PD severity. X and Y values are percentiles. LOT-R= Life Orientation Test-Revised version; WHO-5= WHO-5 Well-being Index; HADS=Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; UPDRS=Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale; Barthel=Barthel Index (measuring disability)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Althaus A, Becker OA, Spottke A, et al. Frequency and treatment of depressive symptoms in a Parkinson’s Disease registry. Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2008;14:626–632. - PubMed
    1. Andersson G. The benefits of optimism: a meta-analytic review of the Life Orientation Test. Personality and Individual Differences. 1996;21:719–725.
    1. Anolli L. Versione Italiana “L’ottimismo”. Bolgna: Il Mulino; 2005. Life Orientation Test-r.
    1. Bech P. Measuring the dimension of Psychological General Well-Being by the WHO-5. Quality of Life Newsletter. 2004;32:15–16.
    1. Bucks RS, Cruise KE, Skinner TC, et al. Coping processes and health-related quality of life in Parkinson’s disease. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2011;26:247–255. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources