Influence of multisystemic affection on health-related quality of life in patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1

Clinical, Psychosocial, and Central Correlates of Quality of Life in Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 Patients

“…It is thus unsurprising that fatigue was identified as the factor explaining the most variance (about 25%) with regard to the physical health domains (PCS model) of DM1 patients. Consistent with previous studies [13,14], we also found that psychological distress, independently of the presence or not of emotional stability, is a significant contributing factor of reduced SF-36 physical component summary scores. Burns et al [8] have underlined that the relationship between mood and physical functioning is bidirectional, with physical functioning affecting mood and, conversely, mood affecting physical functioning.…”

“…Also, the finding that the PCS score is lower than the MCS score is concordant with that noted by Peric et al [14] in a large cohort of Serbian DM1 patients (n = 120). However, these authors have found that SF-36 lowest and highest scores were on the role physical and bodily pain domains [13,14].…”

“…Also, the finding that the PCS score is lower than the MCS score is concordant with that noted by Peric et al [14] in a large cohort of Serbian DM1 patients (n = 120). However, these authors have found that SF-36 lowest and highest scores were on the role physical and bodily pain domains [13,14]. The reasons for these discrepancies are unclear but could be related to differences in methodology and characteristics of the samples, including cultural differences [39].…”

“…In the present study, these factors were identified as significant correlates of reduced QoL except for pain. In this regard, several studies have found that DM1 patients' score for the SF-36 bodily pain was the highest of the four physical function subscales, indicating better health [10,13,14,38]. However, the short time frame of the SF-36 bodily pain subscale may influence these results as the presence of pain in the last 4 weeks is not expected to modify substantially what DM1 patients are able to accomplish, pain often being part of their lives since a long time.…”

“…More specifically, some studies have reported that scores on each of the 8 domains of health in the SF-36 are lower in patients affected by DM1 than in either healthy controls or large samples of the general population [9,10], while others found that only physical health scores, but not mental health scores, are reduced in DM1 patients compared to normal subjects [11,12]. In addition, multivariate analysis of factors influencing QoL in DM1 patients have revealed that older age, severity of muscular involvement, depressive and anxious symptoms, and poor acceptance of illness were associated with reduced SF-36 scores [13,14]. However, these latter studies failed to control for CTG repeat length and did not include measures of social participation.…”