The interrelationship of Cognitive Status, Mental Health, and Life Satisfaction in Multiple Sclerosis (PP-14)

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune disease affecting the central nervous system, and mainly present in young adults, predominantly women. Demyelination leads to cognitive, vision, and movement disorders. The prevalence of MS is rising, with 2.8 million people affected globally. Depression, anxiety, fatigue, and cognitive disorders are common among MS patients, Cognitive dysfunction in MS patients is linked to information processing speed, working memory, and executive function. Age and time post-diagnosis significantly impact cognitive and motor functions in MS. The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between cognitive status, life satisfaction and mental health with multiple sclerosis and their demographic and clinical data.
Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled 274 patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) who attended the MS public clinic in Fars province, Iran. The inclusion criteria were: a confirmed diagnosis of MS based on McDonald’s criteria, and attendance at the MS outpatient clinic between May and August 2024. The clinical and demographic information of the patients, as well as the life satisfaction, depression and General Health questionnaires and the memory test were taken.
Result: A total of 274 patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) were included in this study. By providing a thorough overview of these characteristics (such as age, gender, duration of illness, drugs and the type of MS of each patient. EDSS score (r=0.438, p<0.001), current age (r=0.393, p<0.001), and disease duration (r=0.486, p<0.001) were positively correlated with CI severity.
Conclusions: In general, the results of the study showed that the severity of cognitive impairment was correlated with age, EDSS score, and disease duration, and cognitive impairment had a significant relationship with gender and type of MS disease. However, no significant relationship was observed between the cognitive disorder score of patients with life satisfaction and mental health.