Social Prescribing and Advances in Therapy for Movement Disorders: Jean Hubble, MD

WATCH TIME: 3 minutes

“Social prescribing is kind of a hot topic now, and particularly, I think, because of the COVID-19 environment that individuals with Parkinson disease and movement disorders, and their care partners, and their healthcare providers have had to deal with. It really goes to the heart of the matter of what you can do beyond the scope of traditional medical care.”

In recent years, the practice of social prescribing for patients with Parkinson disease (PD) and other movement disorders, has become a more common part of management. This has been in part driven by the forced social separation of individuals because of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, of course, which has presented challenges for these patient populations, who are also at risk for behavioral and mood disorders.

Data presented as early as September 2020 suggested that social prescribing practices could possibly benefit these patient populations—data from Submranian et al in a survey study of more than 1700 patients with idiopathic PD from the CAM Care PD study suggested that loneliness and social isolation can be risk factors for worsened disease severity.¹

Now, more than 2 years since the onset of the pandemic, these practices are becoming more commonplace. At the 2022 Advanced Therapeutics in Movement and Related Disorders (ATMRD) Congress in Washington, DC, June 17-19, Jean Hubble, MD, semi-retired neurologist and consultant, sat down with the PMD Alliance to discuss this custom at length. She spoke about how these connections provide advantages for patients, and the role that PMD Alliance can play in helping to provide patients and physicians access to these important support aspects.

Click here for more coverage of ATMRD 2022.

REFERENCE
1. Subramanian I, Mischley L, Farahnik J. Loneliness/Social Isolation as a Risk Factor for Worsened Parkinson Disease Severity. Presented at MDS Virtual Congress; September 12-16, 2020; Virtual.