The impact of disease characteristics on multiple sclerosis patients’ quality of life (original) (raw)

2017, Epidemiology and Health

METHODS: This was a crosssectional study, in which 171 patients were enrolled. Healthrelated QoL was assessed using the Persian version of the Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life54 questionnaire. To measure patients' disability status, we used the Ex panded Disability Status Scale. Other variables included in the study were disease course and relapses of the disease. RESULTS: The 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. CONCLUSIONS: Our 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.