The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health as Applied to Parkinson’s Disease: A Literature Review

Objective: The objective was to describe and quantify the development of the use of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), and portray the different components that have been used in the case of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Method: A literature review was carried out as from articles published in the electronic databases PubMed, Cochrane, SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online) and PEDro (Physiotherapy Evidence Database). The following descriptors were used: “Parkinson disease”, “ICF”, “Doença de Parkinson” and “CIF”, combining them by the use of “and”. The search covered the period from October 2014 to March 2015. Results: 50 scientific articles were found, which were evaluated by means of a thematic interpretive reading of the title and summary, finally arriving at 4 articles which related ICF to PD. In sequence the contents of the 4 articles were evaluated: organizing the author, year published, type of study, objective, methodology, ICF domains described, sample, main results and conclusions with respect to the use of ICF in PD patients, into a frame. Conclusions: The choice of ICF items provides an exact description of the functionality and incapacity domains in PD. However, it was evident that ICF had been little used to classify PD patients and help in the elaboration of intervention programs for these patients.