Abstract
OBJECTIVESThe aim of this study was to assess the quality of life (QoL) of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), and to investigate the effects of characteristics of MS such as disease course, severity, and relapses on patients’ QoL.METHODSThis was a cross-sectional study, in which 171 patients were enrolled. Health-related QoL was assessed using the Persian version of the Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life-54 questionnaire. To measure patients’ disability status, we used the Expanded Disability Status Scale. Other variables included in the study were disease course and relapses of the disease. RESULTSThe average scores for patients’ physical and mental QoL were 60.9±22.3 and 59.5±21.4, respectively. In a bivariate analysis, disease course, severity of the disease, and relapses were significantly associated with the physical and mental health composite scores. In a hierarchal regression analysis, disease course, severity of the disease, and relapses were responsible for 38 and 16% of the variance in physical and mental QoL, respectively. It was also observed that relapses were a strong predictor of both physical and mental QoL.CONCLUSIONSOur results showed that disease characteristics significantly affected both dimensions of QoL. It is therefore suggested that health care providers should be aware of these characteristics of MS to more successfully improve MS patients’ QoL.
Highlights
Stud ies have found that patients suffering from Multiple sclerosis (MS) experience a quali ty of life (QoL) lower than the general population, and than those suffering from other chronic diseases [6,7]
There was no significant difference between males and females in terms of age (t169 = 0.24, p = 0.8, t-test)
Some other studies conducted in Iran reported that demographic characteristics were unrelated to health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in MS patients [18,19,20,21]
Summary
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the most widespread neurolo gical diseases in young adults, and affects approximately 2.3 mil. The disease most commonly appears in people aged 20 to 40 years, the age group considered to be the eco nomically active population [1]. Stud ies have found that patients suffering from MS experience a quali ty of life (QoL) lower than the general population, and than those suffering from other chronic diseases [6,7].
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