Psychological consequences of COVID-19 pandemic in Italian MS patients: signs of resilience?

Abstract

Background Anxiety, depression and reduction of quality of life (QoL) are common in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS). Fear of getting sick from COVID-19, government's lockdown and the imposed social distancing might have had an impact on psychological distress and QoL. Objectives The aim of our study was to investigate anxiety, depression and QoL changes in pwMS during SARS-CoV-2 outbreak and lockdown in Italy. Methods 67 pwMS with a previous (less than 6 months) neuropsychological evaluation before SARS-CoV-2 outbreak (T0) were re-evaluated at the time of the outbreak and lockdown in Italy (T1). They underwent a clinical and neurological evaluation and completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Y1), the Beck Depression Inventory second edition (BDI-II), and Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life-54 (MsQoL-54) at T0 and T1. Benjamini-Hochberg procedure was applied to control the false discovery rate. Results BDI-II and STAI-Y1 scores did not change between T0 and T1. At T1, MsQoL-54 scores were higher on the satisfaction with sexual life and the social function subscales, and lower on the limitation due to emotional problems subscale. Conclusions This is the first study that evaluated mood and QoL levels before and during the lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic in pwMS. No worsening of anxiety and depression levels was found. Contrariwise some improvements were noted on QoL, the most reliable regarding the sexual satisfaction and the social function.

No increase in psychosocial stress of Dutch children with cancer and their caregivers during the first months of the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…17 Furthermore, no differences were found on most domains of HRQoL and depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 period compared with before COVID-19 in Italian and Serbian patients with multiple sclerosis. 18,19 One study explained these results by their population being accustomed to experiencing (medical traumatic) stress, 18 not accounted for in this study. However, these factors may increase the risk of psychosocial problems in all families in pediatric oncology on the longer term, and should therefore be examined in future research and care.…”

“…The In line with our results, recently published longitudinal studies in clinical adult populations also found signs of psychosocial resilience during the COVID-19 period. [17][18][19] In women with breast cancer, small but significant improvements were found in HRQoL during the COVID-19 period compared with before COVID-19. 17 Furthermore, no differences were found on most domains of HRQoL and depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 period compared with before COVID-19 in Italian and Serbian patients with multiple sclerosis.…”

Psychological Distress in Patients with Autoimmune Arthritis during the COVID-19 Induced Lockdown in Italy

“…The psychological distress observed in autoimmune arthritis seems to be shared with some chronic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases [50], asthma and COPD [51], cancer [52,53], and psychiatric disorders [44,54,55]; whereas patients with other chronic conditions, such as multiple sclerosis [56] and, surprisingly, patients with diabetes, do not seem to have particularly suffered from the negative psychological consequences of COVID-19-induced lockdown, even though, for diabetes patients, their levels of adherence to treatment and lifestyle habits were reported to be significantly reduced [57]. The reason for these discrepancies among chronic conditions is difficult to interpret and may be ascribed to differences in study populations, such as age (i.e., older in arthritis than in multiple sclerosis or type I diabetes), gender (i.e., predominance of the female gender in arthritis than in type I diabetes), but also on the illness itself, such as severe inflammatory joint pain, stiffness and, consequently, functional limitation pathognomonic of autoimmune arthritis, which are closely dependent on tight medical monitoring, and can quickly impact the psychological well-being of these patients.…”

Insights for Fostering Resilience in Young Adults With Multiple Sclerosis in the Aftermath of the COVID-19 Emergency: An Italian Survey

“…However, to the best of our knowledge and at the moment of preparation of the current paper, studies exploring the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with MS are still sparse. Those articles do not explore specifically the changes in patients' disease perceptions or expectations on psychological support ( 28 – 33 ). Moreover, none of these articles integrated quantitative and qualitative methods.…”