Perception of stigma in patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder

Jose E Meca-Lallana,1 Daniel Prefasi,2 Francisco Pérez-Miralles,3 Lucía Forero,4 María Sepúlveda,5 Carmen Calles,6 María L Martínez-Ginés,7 Inés González-Suárez,8 Sabas Boyero,9 Lucía Romero-Pinel,10 Ángel P Sempere,11 Virginia Meca-Lallana,12 Luis Querol,13 Lucienne Costa-Frossard,14 Hugo de Castro-Trapiello,2 Neus Canal,15 Jorge Maurino2 1Clinical Neuroimmunology Unit and Multiple Sclerosis CSUR. Department of Neurology. Hospital Universitario “Virgen de la Arrixaca”, IMIB-Arrixaca, Murcia, Spain; 2Medical Department, Roche Farma, Madrid, Spain; 3Unit of Neuroimmunology, Department of Neurology, Hospital Universitari i Politècnic La Fe, Valencia, Spain; 4Department of Neurology, Hospital Universitario Puerta del Mar, Cádiz, Spain; 5Department of Neurology, Hospital Clínic i Provincial de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; 6Department of Neurology, Hospital Universitari Son Espases, Palma de Mallorca, Spain; 7Department of Neurology, Hospital Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain; 8Department of Neurology, Hospital Universitario Álvaro Cunqueiro, Vigo, Spain; 9Department of Neurology, Hospital Universitario Cruces, Bilbao, Spain; 10Department of Neurology, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain; 11Department of Neurology, Hospital General Universitario de Alicante, Alicante, Spain; 12Department of Neurology, Hospital Universitario La Princesa, Madrid, Spain; 13Department of Neurology, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain; 14Department of Neurology, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal, Madrid, Spain; 15Department of Statistics, IQVIA, Barcelona, SpainCorrespondence: Jorge MaurinoRoche Farma, Ribera Del Loira, 50, Madrid, 28042, SpainTel +34 913 24 81 00Email jorge.maurino@roche.comBackground: Perception of stigma was associated with low self-esteem, psychological problems, and decreased health-seeking behavior among patients with different neurological disorders. The purpose of this study was to assess stigmatization and its impact in patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD).Methods: A non-interventional study was conducted at thirteen neuroimmunology clinics in Spain. Patients with a diagnosis of NMOSD (2015 Wingerchuk criteria) were included. The 8-item Stigma Scale for Chronic Illness (SSCI-8), the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), the 29-item Multiple Sclerosis Impact Scale (MSIS-29), the Beck Depression Inventory-Fast Screen (BDI-FS), the MOS Pain Effects Scale (MOS-PES) and the Fatigue Impact Scale for Daily Use (D-FIS) were used to assess the perception of stigma, disability, quality of life, mood, pain, and fatigue, respectively. Associations between outcome measures were analyzed using Spearman’s rank correlation.Results: Seventy-one patients were studied (mean age: 47.4 years ± 14.9, 81.7% female, mean time since disease onset: 9.9 years ± 8.1). The median EDSS score was 3.0 (interquartile range 1.5, 4.5). Stigma prevalence was 61.4% (n=43). Thirty-one patients (43.6%) had depression. The SSCI-8 score showed a significant correlation with both physical (rho=0.576, p< 0.0001) and psychological (rho=0.608, p< 0.0001) MSIS-29 scales scores, EDSS score (rho=0.349, p=0.0033), BDI-FS score (rho= 0.613, p< 0.0001), MOS-PES score (rho= 0.457, p< 0.0001), and D-FIS score (rho=0.556, p< 0.0001).Conclusion: Stigma is a common phenomenon affecting over 6 out of 10 patients with NMOSD. Understanding stigma may be useful to develop educational strategies improving NMOSD knowledge.Keywords: neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder, stigma, quality of life, depression, patient-reported outcomes