The symptom experience of patients with Parkinson's disease.

Studying the symptom experience of persons with Parkinson's disease (PD) could aid in determining the extent to which particular symptoms and symptom dimensions pose a problem and could assist in determining which of these to target for interventions. A descriptive correlational design with face-to-face interviews was used to study the extent of distress related to 13 symptoms of PD and relationships among symptom intensity, frequency, duration, and distress in 85 persons with PD. The mean number of symptoms reported was 7. The most distressing symptom was off time, followed by freezing gait, postural instability, sleep disturbance, and difficulty concentrating. Mean symptom distress scores ranged from slightly less to more than moderately. Symptom intensity and distress were strongly correlated, whereas the relationships of symptom frequency and duration to distress varied by symptom. Symptoms found in this study to be most distressing should be considered when interventions are being developed. It is likely that distress does make symptoms worse, so it is important to assess symptom intensity, duration, and frequency as well as distress when interventions to reduce distress are evaluated.