COVID-19 Associated Anxiety, Grief, Anger, and Perceived Stress in Individuals with Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all segments of society. In this study, the level of anxiety, grief, anger and perceived stress related to pandemic conditions were evaluated in multiple sclerosis (MS) cases, healthcare professionals and lay public and, the stress experienced by individuals with MS was compared with health care professionals and lay public. 
 Study sample were composed of 63 persons with MS, 59 healthcare professionals (HCP), and 99 healthy volunteers (HV). All participants were administered UCLA-Covid-19 screening test, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder - symptom checklist, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 Scale, Impact of Events Scale, K-10 scale and Trait Anger Scale. Socio-demographic features of the groups were almost same except for female preponderance and relatively low education in MS group. Hospitalization, test-positivity and quarantine rates due to COVID-19 did nor differ among groups. Pandemic conditions have made everyone feel helpless and hopeless, however, this was remarkably much more evident in HCPs. The most significant concern related with COVID-19 was contracting the disease for persons with MS, transporting the disease to their family members for HCP, and job/income loss due to lockdown for HVs. The stress level experienced by individuals with MS and health care professionals was significantly higher than that of healthy volunteers. In a similar way, the perceived stress level was the same in MS and HCP groups, but significantly higher than in the HV group. Persons with MS were as anxious and depressed as HCPs. Nevertheless, HVs stated that they experienced more psychological distress than both HCPs and persons with MS. Our results yield that depression, anxiety and stress were high among persons with MS during the pandemic.