Coping Strategy and Anxiety Evolution in Multiple Sclerosis Patients Initiating Interferon-Beta Treatment

Abstract

This study (ACSEPT) aimed to assess anxiety evolution according to coping strategy in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) during their first months of treatment with interferon (IFN)-β1a. Recently diagnosed relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) patients (n = 255) were included and received standardized information on MS. At inclusion, the preferred coping mode was determined using the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS). Anxiety and depression were assessed at inclusion and after 3 months using the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Beck Depression Inventory, respectively. At inclusion, the preferred coping strategy was task-oriented for most patients (53%), 51% were considered as anxious, and the mean Beck depression score was low. Emotion-oriented patients were more anxious and more depressed than the 2 other coping groups (task- and avoidance-oriented). During the first 3 months of IFN treatment, the anxiety level slightly decreased in the total population, more intensively in the emotion-oriented group, and there were no clinically significant changes in the Beck depression score. Anxiety and depression remained stable or decreased during the first 3 months of IFN treatment, depending on coping strategy. Identifying these coping strategies during therapy initiation may allow customized support and improve treatment adherence.

Anxiety and Coping Strategy Changes in Multiple Sclerosis Patients Initiating Fingolimod: The GRACE Prospective Study

“…However, the relationship between high levels of depression and the use of an emotion-oriented strategy is consistent with published data [10,31] . The impact of fatigue measured by the FIS-MS was comparable with the findings of previous studies [35][36][37] .…”

“…Other studies of coping in MS which used the CISS [10,29,30] , or more frequently the COPE questionnaire [23, [31][32][33]] , have revealed a high level of recourse to non-adaptive coping strategies and an association between non-adaptive coping and anxiety or depression [34] . However, it is difficult to compare the results obtained with different questionnaires due to different content structure or different definitions of coping strategies.…”

“…These coping strategies can be adaptive (task-oriented) or non-adaptive (emotion-or avoidance-oriented). A study conducted in France in 2002 evaluated the anxiety and coping strategies in patients with MS starting treatment with interferon-β 1a im [10] . This study reported that around half of patients were anxious at the time of treatment initiation.…”

Supportive strategies to improve adherence to IFN beta-1b in Multiple Sclerosis — Results of the BetaPlus observational cohort study

“…Psychological coping has proved to be crucially important for adjusting to the adaptive demands of chronic diseases, and in the last few years it has received growing interest in MS [12,13]. However, few studies tried to identify coping strategies during therapy initiation which may allow customized support and improve treatment adherence [14].…”

The effect of executive function on stress, depression, anxiety, and quality of life in multiple sclerosis

“…The rate of depression in MS is higher than that in most other chronic or neurologic diseases (Feinstein, 2007) and is thought to be a combination of psychosocial factors consequential to the disease, such as uncertainty, accumulation of disability, loss of work and independence, and biological changes that result from the disease (Arnett, Barwick, & Beeney, 2008). There has been less research into anxiety disorders; however, prevalence of clinically significant anxiety has been reported as 25-51% (Janssens, van Doorn, de Boer, Kalkers, et al, 2003;Korostil & Feinstein, 2007;Moreau, Schmidt, Joyeux, & Bungener, 2009). Management of depression and anxiety in PwMS is important as it has been linked to increased quality of life (QoL) and adherence to disease-modifying treatments (Bruce, Hancock, Arnett, & Lynch, 2010).…”