Workforce unavailability in Parkinson’s disease

Timpka J, Svensson J, Nilsson MH, Palhagen S, Hagell P & Odin P

Individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) become unavailable in the workforce earlier than comparable members of the general population. This was a cross-sectional registry study using data from the Swedish national quality registry for PD aiming to identify aspects that may contribute to workforce unavailability in people with PD. It included persons with PD in Skåne County, Sweden who were younger than 65 years. Variables were selected from the registry based on earlier studies and clinical experience and were tested for association with unavailability in the workforce: first in a series of simple regression analyses and then in a multiple logistic regression analysis. Based on the findings in this exploratory study, anxiety—a potentially modifiable factor—and age may be contributing factors for workforce unavailability in PD. However, prospective studies are warranted to confirm the findings and the causation of the association between anxiety and workforce unavailability needs to be clarified.

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Acta Neurol Scand. 2017;135(3):332-338
DOI:10.1111/ane.12602