1. Depression and quality of life in multiple sclerosis
- Author
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Reinhard Eher, Baumhackl U, Stefan Fruehwald, Bernd Saletu, and Loeffler-Stastka H
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,High prevalence ,business.industry ,Depression scale ,Multiple sclerosis ,General Medicine ,medicine.disease ,humanities ,Psychiatric comorbidity ,Neurology ,Quality of life ,medicine ,Outpatient clinic ,Anxiety ,Neurology (clinical) ,medicine.symptom ,Psychiatry ,business ,Depression (differential diagnoses) - Abstract
Objectives– Health related quality of life (QoL) has gained increasing influence as a relevant evaluation criterion in multiple sclerosis. The high prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity in MS is, however, hardly ever considered in studies concerning QoL. Materials and methods– In 60 patients of a MS outpatient clinic, symptoms of anxiety (Zung Anxiety Scale) and depression (Zung Depression Scale), as well as the health-related quality of life were rated and set into relation to the EDSS and to the duration of illness, respectively. Results– There was a highly significant correlation between depression as well as anxiety and the self-assessed quality of life. Depression was the by far strongest predictor for reduced QoL. Conclusion– Clinical studies, which seek to register the increasingly important evaluation criterion of health-related quality of life in MS, should consider the prevalence of depressive disorders and the decisive effect of depression on the self-assessed quality of life of affected patients.
- Published
- 2001
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