BACKGROUND: Conventional medical management, while essential, cannot address all multifaceted consequences of Parkinson's disease (PD). This pilot study explores the potential of a co-designed creative arts therapy on health-related quality of life, well-being, and pertinent non-motor symptoms. METHODS: We conducted an exploratory pilot study with a pre-post design using validated questionnaires. Eight individuals with PD participated in the program. The investigated intervention was a 10-week creative arts therapy with weekly 90-120-min sessions, guided by three creative therapists. Participants were allowed to autonomously select from multiple creative media based on their personal preferences. Explored co-primary outcomes included health-related quality of life (PDQ-39), well-being (ICECAP-A), anxiety/depression (HADS), executive functioning (BRIEF-A), resilience/mental flexibility (FIT-60), and self-efficacy (GSES). We used paired sample t tests for pre-post analysis of the co-primary outcomes and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests for PDQ-39 sub-scores. We also included aesthetic responsiveness (AReA) and healthcare consumption (IMCQ adapted for PD) questionnaires reported as descriptive statistics. RESULTS: The results showed a significant reduction in anxiety and an increase in well-being. We also observed a slight improvement in cognitive functioning. Finally, we noted a reduction in healthcare consumption (fewer visits at neurologists, specialized PD nurses, and allied healthcare professionals). CONCLUSION: These findings cautiously suggest that our co-designed, multi-media creative arts therapy has the potential to increase well-being and reduce anxiety, while reducing healthcare consumption. These preliminary findings support the need for a larger, randomized controlled trial to explore the therapeutic potential of creative arts therapy in PD care.

Introduction: Unplanned hospital admissions associated with Parkinson's disease could be partly attributable to comorbidities. Methods: We studied nationwide claims databases and registries. Persons with newly diagnosed Parkinson's disease were identified based on the first Parkinson's disease-related reimbursement claim by a medical specialist. Comorbidities were classified based on the Charlson Comorbidity Index. We studied hospitalization admissions because of falls, psychiatric diseases, pneumonia and urinary tract infections, PD-related hospitalizations-not otherwise specified. The association between comorbidities and time-to-hospitalization was estimated using Cox proportional hazard modelling. To better understand pathways leading to hospitalizations, we performed multiple analyses on causes for hospitalizations. Results: We identified 18 586 people with newly diagnosed Parkinson's disease. The hazard of hospitalization was increased in persons with peptic ulcer disease (HR 2.20, p = 0.009), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (HR 1.61, p < 0.001), stroke (HR 1.37, p = 0.002) and peripheral vascular disease (HR 1.31, p = 0.02). In the secondary analyses, the hazard of PD-related hospitalizations-not otherwise specified (HR 3.24, p = 0.02) and pneumonia-related hospitalization (HR 2.90, p = 0.03) was increased for those with comorbid peptic ulcer disease. The hazard of fall-related hospitalization (HR 1.57, p = 0.003) and pneumonia-related hospitalization (HR 2.91, p < 0.001) was increased in persons with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The hazard of pneumonia-related hospitalization was increased in those with stroke (HR 1.54, p = 0.03) or peripheral vascular disease (HR 1.60, p = 0.02). The population attributable risk of comorbidity was 8.4%. Conclusion: Several comorbidities increase the risk of Parkinson's disease related-hospitalization indicating a need for intervention strategies targeting these comorbid disorders.