Quality of life among persons suffering from multiple sclerosis

Objective: To examine the quality of life of people affected by multiple sclerosis and to determine whether there is a difference in the quality of life according to sex, age, education, employment status, marital status and overall duration of the disease. Materials and methods: The study included 81 patients with MS (32 men and 49 women) over 18 years of age. The survey instrument used was a standardized MSQoL-54 specific questionnaire for measuring the quality of life of patients with multiple sclerosis. Results: Men rated their health significantly better than women in dimensions of energy/vitality (p = 0.028) and dimensions of pain (p = 0,018), while women rated significantly better in the dimension health perceptions (p = 0.025). The dimensions of health that described physical health (p < 0.001), pain (p = 0.047), sexual functioning (p = 0.036), social functioning (p = 0.047) and overall quality of life (p = 0.012) were significantly worse rated by the oldest respondents. Ratings of physical health (p < 0.001) and overall quality of life scale (p = 0.017) were significantly the lowest in subjects older than 55 years. According to the level of education, significant differences were present only in dimensions to energy/vitality (p = 0.004) and health distress (p = 0.015). As regards to employment status, dimensions that described physical health (p = 0.001), health perception (p = 0.001), social function (p = 0.002), health distress (p = 0.010), overall quality of life (p = 0.009), physical health composite (p = 0.001), mental health composite (p = 0.007) and overall quality scale of quality of life (p = 0.003) were the significantly worse rated respondents. According to disease duration the lowest rating to quality of physical health was given by respondents suffering from MS for 21 years and longer (p = 0.007). Conclusion: Research shows that multiple sclerosis impairs the quality of life of patients. The use of instruments designed to measure multiple sclerosis patients’ quality of life, based on subjective perceptions of quality of life, facilitates the implementation of targeted interventions and measures that improve the quality of life