Quality of life in adults living with Multiple Sclerosis
From September 2020 and June 2021, I completed a research internship under Dre Isabelle Rouleau supervision. We studied the determinant of quality of life in patients living with multiple sclerosis (MS). Our main hypothesis was that mild cognitive impairments (MCI) are a risk factor of quality of life and that aging enhance the effect of MCI on QoL.
Prior to my internship, and part of a broader study, PhD students had assess the cognitive functioning of 50 patients living with multiple sclerosis with neuropsychological tests. These same patients also filled up a quality of life questionnaire.
To test our hypothesis, we conducted multiple regression analyses on patients cognitive functioning scores, quality of life self-evaluation scores and patient’s age. Results suggest that depression symptoms, fatigue, EDSS level are the most important risk factors of poor quality of life in people living with MS—that is regardless of aging.
Preserving quality of life in patients with MS is important because of the neurodegenerative nature if the disease. Therefore, based on our results and on previous studies, we concluded that professional should evaluate mood and level of fatigue to provide treatment if affecting patient’s quality of life.
