Sleep Quality in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

Background and Objective: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune neurologic disorder with higher prevalence in female adults. Patients with MS suffer from many consequences of the disease, which result in poor quality of life. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the sleep quality in patients with MS as an important aspect of their life and the relationship between sleep quality and different types of the disease, treatment, and individual characteristics.
Materials and Methods: A total of 152 patients diagnosed with MS at the department of neurology, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran, were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire consisting of demographic and disease characteristics, types of treatment, and the validated Persian version of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). PSQI score ≥ 5 and < 5 were categorized as poor and good sleep quality, respectively.
Results: In this study, the average of PSQI score in all patients was 9.28 ± 5.11. 105 patients (69.1%) had PSQI ≥ 5 (poor sleep quality); whereas 47 patients (31.9%) had PSQI < 5 (good sleep quality). The type of drug (Rebif) used by the patients had a significant effect on categories of self-reported sleep quality among patients (P = 0.01).
Conclusion: This study showed a high prevalence of poor sleep quality in patients with MS. More evaluations are needed for better management of sleep problems in these patients.