| Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic and progressive condition that affects the physical, emotional, and social functioning of individuals. Freed et al. (2001) conducted a double-blind sham-controlled trial to investigate the effectiveness of fetal tissue transplantation for the treatment of advanced PD. The authors of that study examined the effects of the surgery across the dimensions of physical and neurological functioning. A quality of life (QoL) study was conducted to determine if there were differences in QoL when comparing those who received the fetal tissue transplantation with those who received the sham surgery (McRae et al., 2004).;While there is little research on the effectiveness of fetal tissue transplantation as a treatment for PD, there is even less literature on longitudinal effects of this treatment. This study examined the longitudinal QoL among participants who received the fetal transplant surgery beginning in 1995. Participants included 11 people who were in the parent (Freed et al., 2001) and original QoL (McRae, 2004) studies. Participants completed several questionnaires that assessed many of the dimensions of QoL. Information from the questionnaires was compared to data collected before surgery, and at one and two years following surgery. Results indicated that Social functioning at baseline significantly predicted participants' Physical functioning over ten years later. |
