To investigate subjective and objective changes in function in subjects with Parkinson's disease (PD) home visits with interviews were performed with a 1-year interval. Depressive symptoms were rated with the Geriatric Depression Scale, subjective health with the generic SF-36 scale and the disease-specific PDQ-8 scale; objective changes were assessed according to the Hoehn and Yahr scale; insomnia was rated with an eight-item questionnaire and the sense of coherence (SOC) was determined with the short version of that scale. A total of 91 subjects (39 women and 52 men with a mean age of 70 years) living at home, most of them moderately to severely disabled, were interviewed. Time since diagnosis was 10 years for 32%. During the studied year the subjects' status declined significantly as shown by changes in both the PDQ-8 and the Hoehn and Yahr scales. The most striking finding was a pronounced decrease in the SOC scale (p