Can Deep Brain Stimulation Improve Social, Occupational Functioning in Patients With Parkinson Disease?

Among patients with Parkinson disease (PD) aged 60 years and younger with early motor complications, deep brain stimulation (DBS) was found to provide significant improvements in social, occupational, and psychosocial function, according to study findings published in Movement Disorders Clinical Practice.

As the researchers noted, DBS has been shown to improve motor symptoms and quality of life in patients with PD (PwP) and early motor complications. Moreover, the safety of DBS has been indicated in a prior study, with previous concerns of dementia risk found not to be higher than the general PD population who did not undergo the procedure. The implications of these benefits led researchers of the current study to examine whether DBS could be prescribed in the working-age PD population.