March 2007
S.H.J.
Keus, B.R. Bloem, J.J. van Hilten, A. Ashburn, M. Munneke
To study the feasibility of a large randomised controlled trial (RCT)
evaluating the effectiveness of physiotherapy in Parkinson's disease
(PD), 173 patients were asked to participate in a study with random
allocation to best practice physiotherapy, or to no physiotherapy.
The
primary outcome measures were the Parkinson's disease questionnaire-39,
the Parkinson activity scale, and a patient preference outcome scale
(PPOS). Only 14% of the patients could be included in the study. The
PPOS showed the largest effect size (0.74) with a significant group
effect (p<0.05).
Specific alterations to the study design to
ensure successful RCTs in this field are recommended.
