Biopsychosocial Correlates of Quality of Life in Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating chronic disease that has had increasing prevalence over the last years. We have investigated whether the perceived quality of life is reduced in multiple sclerosis patients compared to control participants with a cross-sectional approach, and how it relates to sociodemographic, clinical, and psychosocial variables in MS with multiple regression. To that end, a group of MS patients (n = 50) and a control group (n = 50) that was matched for age and education level filled in the WHOQOL-BREF (perceived quality of life across four domains) and a sociodemographic questionnaire. The participants in the MS group also filled in a clinical questionnaire and three instruments measuring psychosocial variables (the DASS-21 for depression, anxiety, and stress, the Brief-COPE for coping skills, and the Meaning in Life Scale). The results showed that the perceived quality of life was lower in the MS group than in the control group. Multiple regression models incorporating the variables that showed significant correlations with the quality of life indicated that age, professional status, recovery from relapses, depression, active coping, and meaning in life predicted at least one domain of the quality of life. Meaning in life predicted the quality of life in all four of the domains. Although the quality of life in MS is linked to multiple biopsychosocial variables, meaning in life seems crucial.

Quality of Life in Multiple Sclerosis: The Predictive Roles of Positive Body Image and Meaning in Life

“…The complex nature of MS is demarcated by the unpredictability of the crisis and the diagnosis at a young age, which prompts the re-examination of the individual's expectations and plans for their future. Pinto and Guerra [31] and Batista et al [13] found lower mean values for the variable in the Portuguese population than those found in other chronic people [30,32].…”

“…The existing literature has indicated that individuals with MS, in comparison with healthy controls (HC), experience lower levels of quality of life (QoL) [13][14][15].…”

“…The study of the impact of meaning in life on the adaptation to MS should be emphasized, given the evidence that points to its protective role in chronically ill patients' QoL [13,[30][31][32][33][34][35]. Meaning in life has its roots in the humanistic psychology of Viktor Frankl, who defines it as the presence of or the search for meaning or a reason that guides an individual's existence (Frankl, 1959, as cited in [36]).…”

Esclerose múltipla e qualidade de vida: abordagens para a inclusão do bem-estar

“…A princípio, é de grande relevância ressaltar quanto o "sentido da vida" percebido pelo indivíduo desmielinizado e sua visão em relação ao medo da doença, pois quanto menor a satisfação com o padrão de vida e com o quadro da doença, pior a relação psicossocial na QV (ALMEIDA et al, 2022;BATISTA et al, 2022).…”

“…A Qualidade de Vida (QV) refere-se ao equilíbrio de vários fatores, os quais abrangem alguns domínios principais; como o físico, o psicológico, o social e o ambiental (BATISTA et al, 2022). A partir do diagnóstico e da progressão da EM, os indivíduos que convivem com esta doença sofrem com grandes alterações em sua rotina, visto os efeitos negativos trazidos pelos seus sintomas (ALMEIDA et al, 2022).…”