Home-based prescribed exercise improves balance-related activities and gait speed in people with Parkinson 's disease , and these improvements are similar to improvements with equivalent centre-based exercise .
QUESTIONS In people with Parkinson 's disease , does home-based prescribed exercise improve balance-related activities and quality of life compared with no intervention ?
Are the effects of home-based exercise similar to those of equivalent centre-based exercise ?
An exercise intervention to prevent falls in Parkinson’s: an economic evaluation
Background People with Parkinson ’s ( PwP ) experience frequent and recurrent falls . As these falls may have devastating consequences , there is an urgent need to identify cost-effective interventions with the potential to reduce falls in PwP. The purpose of this economic evaluation is to compare the costs and cost-effectiveness of a targeted exercise programme versus usual care for PwP who were at risk of falling . Methods One hundred and thirty participants were recruited through specialist clinics , primary care and Parkinson ’s support groups and r and omised to either an exercise intervention or usual care .  Health and social care utilisation and health-related quality of life ( EQ-5D ) were assessed over the 20 weeks of the study ( ten-week intervention period and ten-week follow up period ) , and these data were complete for 93 participants . Incremental cost per quality adjusted life year ( QALY ) was estimated . The uncertainty around costs and QALYs was represented using cost-effectiveness acceptability curves . Results The mean cost of the intervention was £ 76 per participant . Although in direction of favour of exercise intervention , there was no statistically significant differences between groups in total healthcare ( −£128 , 95 % CI : -734 to 478 ) , combined health and social care costs ( £ -35 , 95 % CI : -817 to 746 ) or QALYs ( 0.03 , 95 % CI : -0.02 to 0.03 ) at 20 weeks . Nevertheless , exploration of the uncertainty surrounding these estimates suggests there is more than 80 % probability that the exercise intervention is a cost-effective strategy relative to usual care . Conclusion Whilst we found no difference between groups in total healthcare , total social care cost and QALYs , analyses indicate that there is high probability that the exercise intervention  is cost-effective compared with usual care . These results require confirmation by larger trial-based economic evaluations and over the longer term
Home-based prescribed exercise improves balance-related activities and gait speed in people with Parkinson 's disease , and these improvements are similar to improvements with equivalent centre-based exercise .
QUESTIONS In people with Parkinson 's disease , does home-based prescribed exercise improve balance-related activities and quality of life compared with no intervention ?
Are the effects of home-based exercise similar to those of equivalent centre-based exercise ?