Abstract
Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of Parkinson’s disease (PD) on faith and spirituality.
Background: There are various studies recently suggesting that spirituality and faith involve similar dopaminergic pathways as that of PD which led to a great opportunity to examine roles of such network for finding the link if present.
Design/Methods: We conducted a comparative study on impact of PD on faith and spirituality among disability score matched PD and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. We collected information using a structured questionnaire which assessed demographic information, clinical history and neurologic function. Disability was evaluated using a questionnaire based on the Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS). Faith and spirituality were assessed by the Brief multidimensional measure of religiousness/spirituality (BMMRS).
Results: In a period of 4 months, 48 PD and 48 RA patients were interviewed. Most of the patients are age > 61 year. SDS’s total score is not significantly different between PD patients (Median = 8) and RA patients (Median = 7), with Mann-Whitney Test U = 1113.0, p = 0.773. We managed to screen and assess two groups with comparable disability index. Even though there is a theoretical shared pathway between PD neurodegeneration and spirituality, we did not find any significant difference among PD and RA patients’ BMMRS scores.
Conclusions: PD patients maintain their faith and spirituality in spite of the disease severity while having high SDS scores. This study indirectly outlined that PD patient were “less” religious/spiritual than healthy individuals because of motor and non-motor disabilities rather than the presumed shared neuronal circuit degeneration. Hence, large-scale studies are needed to question the theory which suggests faith and spirituality are affected by degeneration of basal ganglia pathway.
Disclosure: Dr. Worku has nothing to disclose. Dr. Belay has nothing to disclose. Dr. Weldehana has nothing to disclose.
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