Multi-dimensional analysis on Parkinson’s disease questionnaire-39 in Parkinson’s patients treated with Bushen Huoxue Granule: A multicenter, randomized, double-blinded and placebo controlled trial

To preliminarily assess the effects of Bushen Huoxue Granule (BHG) on Parkinson's Patients with Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire-39 (PDQ-39)and to provide data for further research. A randomized, double-blinded, placebo controlled study with a 3-month intervention period and a 6-month follow-up. Participants were patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD) of age ranging from 50 to 80 years and Hoehn and Yahr (H–Y) stage I–IV of the disease.120 participants were allocated to BHG group or placebo group at a 1:1 ratio. The BHG group received BHG twice a day for 3 months, and was followed-up for 6 months after treatment; the placebo group did not receive any Chinese Herb treatment for 9 months. All the patients were given the conventional therapy of levodopa (Madopar). Primary outcome measure was PDQ-39 comprises 39 questions with five different options of answer related to the frequency of the disease manifestation. Significant statistical difference appeared in the following PDQ-39 dimensions: mobility; emotional well-being; stigma; cognition (P < 0.01) and bodily discomfort (P < 0.05).There was no statistical difference in the dimensions of social support, ADL and communication between the data of these two group patients (P ≥ 0.05). We found that the sum index of PDQ-39 was significantly different between two groups. The results of this study show that BHG treatment makes significant effects in most domains of PD patients life quality,especially in mobility, emotional well-being, stigma and cognition. The affected factors should be confirmed in larger studies.