Association between relapses, stress, and depression in people with multiple sclerosis during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Neurol Sci
; 43(5): 2935-2942, 2022 May.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35092543
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Stress is a potential trigger for clinical and radiological activity in Multiple Sclerosis (MS). COVID-19 pandemic has been a relevant source of mental distress in people with MS (pwMS) and deeply impacted on disease management.OBJECTIVE:
To investigate the association between stress, anxiety, depression, and risk of relapse during the COVID-19 pandemic.METHODS:
From an electronic database used for clinical practice, we extracted data of relapsing-remitting (RR) or relapsing-progressive (RP) MS patients and calculated the annualized relapse rate (ARR) during 2019 and 2020. From 01/12/2020 to 30/12/2020, enrolled patients were invited to fill in a Google Forms survey to investigate depression, anxiety, stress, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).RESULTS:
We selected 216 patients with RR or RP-MS to calculate ARR compared to 2019, in 2020 there was a significant increase in ARR (p = 0.0142). Over 216 selected pwMS, 154 completed the survey. Matching the survey responses and incidence of relapses in 2020, there was a significant association between relapses and stress (p = 0.030) and relapses and depression (p = 0.011), but not between relapses and anxiety (p = 0.130) or PTSD (p = 0.279).CONCLUSIONS:
Our results support the hypothesis that pandemic-related stress is associated to clinical exacerbations, both as a possible consequence of the COVID-19 impact on MS care.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Multiple Sclerosis, Chronic Progressive
/
Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting
/
COVID-19
/
Multiple Sclerosis
Type of study:
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Neurol Sci
Journal subject:
NEUROLOGIA
Year:
2022
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Italy