The purpose of this paper was to document the impact of Parkinson's disease (PD) upon patients using both a generic health status measure (the Short-form 36 health survey questionnaire, SF-36) and a disease-specific measure (the 39-item Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire, PDQ-39). Comparing the results of the SF-36 in this population with a similar aged group selected randomly from two general practices it was evident that the disease has considerable impact on general levels of functioning and well-being. Furthermore, other areas not contained on the SF-36 were found to be relevant to PD patients. It is suggested that the disease-specific measure will be of value, ideally alongside a generic measure, in studies aimed at determining the impact of a treatment régimen upon PD patients, or to monitor the long-term progress of cohorts of patients with PD. The paper highlights the need for careful consideration of measures for evaluation.