Purpose
The Profile PD is a scale consisting of 24 items that measures the impact of Parkinson Disease (PD) on body systems and activities. It quantifies the changes in the body system and activities in early and middle stages of the disease according to the Hoehn and Yahr classification. The Profile PD is designed to assess PD-specific impairments and activities through a combination of subjective report and observation in order to assist in examination and the assessment of outcomes through intervention.
The gold standard for quantifying the same variables is the UPDRS. However, the UPDRS is long and tends to emphasize responses weighted toward more advanced PD progression. Thus, it has limited clinical utility for physical therapists. In addition, the UPDRS contains details that are not needed for physical therapy assessment relative to assessment of effects of interventions. These are some of the factors that limit the use of this scale for physical therapists. The Profile PD addresses these factors.
Acronym
Profile PD
Area of Assessment
Activities of Daily Living
Balance – Non-vestibular
Cognition
Depression
Dexterity
Functional Mobility
Gait
Life Participation
Upper Extremity Function
Assessment Type
Performance Measure
Administration Mode
Paper & Pencil
Cost
Free
Diagnosis/Conditions
- Parkinson's Disease & Movement Disorders
- Profile PD consists of 24 total items organized into three subscales:
1) Body Systems: Items #1-11 measure deficits in the body system including bradykinesia, tremor, and postural instability.
2) Activities: Items #12-21 measure difficulties in functional activities that are experienced by the patient with PD.
3) Cognition/Affect: Items #22-24 quantify impairments with memory, depression and degree of involvement in home and community.
- Each item is rated on a scale from 0 (no problems) to 4 (significant problems).
- Each item has its own scale descriptors.
- The total score range is from 0 (best) to 96 (worse).
- Standard chair without armrests
- Bottle of water and empty cup
Approximately 10-20 minutes
Required Training
Reading an Article/Manual
Instrument Reviewers
Initially reviewed by Hetal Bhimjiani, PT in 10/2012. Reviewed by Cathy Harro MS, PT, NCS & Member of PD EDGE task force of Neurology Section, APTA.
Body Part
Upper Extremity
Back
Lower Extremity
ICF Domain
Body Function
Activity
Measurement Domain
Activities of Daily Living
Cognition
Emotion
Motor
Professional Association Recommendation
Recommendations for use of the instrument from the Neurology Section of the American Physical Therapy Association’s Multiple Sclerosis Taskforce (MSEDGE), Parkinson’s Taskforce (PD EDGE), Spinal Cord Injury Taskforce (PD EDGE), Stroke Taskforce (StrokEDGE), Traumatic Brain Injury Taskforce (TBI EDGE), and Vestibular Taskforce (Vestibular EDGE) are listed below. These recommendations were developed by a panel of research and clinical experts using a modified Delphi process.
For detailed information about how recommendations were made, please visit:
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Abbreviations:
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HR
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Highly Recommend
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R
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Recommend
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LS / UR
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Reasonable to use, but limited study in target group / Unable to Recommend
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NR
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Not Recommended
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Recommendations Based on Parkinson Disease Hoehn and Yahr stage:
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I
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II
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III
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IV
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V
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PD EDGE
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LS/UR
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LS/UR
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LS/UR
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NR
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NR
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Recommendations for entry-level physical therapy education and use in research:
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Students should learn to administer this tool? (Y/N)
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Students should be exposed to tool? (Y/N)
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Appropriate for use in intervention research studies? (Y/N)
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Is additional research warranted for this tool (Y/N)
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PD EDGE
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No
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No
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No
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Not reported
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Vestibular EDGE
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No
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Yes
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No
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Considerations
The consideration are as follows:
- The scale is a new scale developed to use with patients with early stages of Parkinson’s disease especially for the physical therapist since the scale requires less time for assessment and the scale is specific in terms of impairments and physical performance.
- There is limited evidence (2 studies) therefore future studies should should be completed and published before the scale is adopted for clinical use by the physical therapist.
- The scale needs further research to examine content, discriminative, and construct validity, test-retest reliabiilty, and responsiveness to disease progression and to therapeutic interventions.
- There is a modified UPDRS that is now available for the early stages of the disease but its correlation with Profile PD should be done.
Do you see an error or have a suggestion for this instrument summary? Please e-mail us!
