Original scientific paper

FEATURES OF SLEEP DISTURBANCES IN MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS PATIENTS

Rytis Leonavicius ; Clinic of Psychiatry, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuanian Republic
Virginija Adomaitiene ; Clinic of Psychiatry, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuanian Republic

Abstract

Background: Sleep disturbances in multiple sclerosis (MS) have received little research attention despite the potential influence
it may have on the impact of the disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of sleep disturbances in a Lithuanian
community sample of individuals with the relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and its relation with depression, anxiety,
and health related quality of life (HRQoL).
Subjects and methods: The examined group consisted of 137 RRMS outpatients. The following questionnaires were used: the
original socio-demographic questionnaire, Medical Outcomes Study Sleep (MOSS) measure, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale
(HADS), and HRQoL measure. The relationship of objective sleep disturbances was evaluated with multivariate linear regression,
adjusted to socio-demographic and clinical data.
Results: Sleep disturbances were present in 45.3 percent of patients. According to the HADS-D, depressive symptoms were
present in 21.9 percent, according to the HADS-A, anxiety symptoms were present in 19.7 percent of study participants. Mean value
of Physical and Mental component of HRQoL respectively constituted 40.4 and 44.5. We observed the relationship between sleep
disturbances and gender, age, EDSS, prevalence of depression and anxiety, and Physical and Mental component of HRQoL.
Conclusions: Our research was limited by narrow number of study participants and could be accepted only as preliminary
study. The study investigated only RRMS patients, therefore investigation of other clinical forms of MS could provide more
exhaustive data related with sleep disturbances. The investigation included only outpatients group, therefore research of inpatients
could provide more comprehensive data. Sleep disturbances in our study were common in RRMS, and they related with female
gender, older age, higher disability status, prevalence of depression and anxiety, and worse HRQoL. The treatable causes of sleep
disturbances in RRMS should be identified and cured. However, further research are requested to confirm these findings.

Keywords

relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis - sleep disturbances – depression – anxiety - quality of life

Hrčak ID:

162198

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/162198

Publication date:

18.9.2014.

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