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Work capacity and health-related quality of life among individuals with multiple sclerosis reduced by fatigue: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Among individuals diagnosed with the chronic neurologic disease, multiple sclerosis (MS), a majority suffers from fatigue, which strongly influences their every-day-life. The aim of this study was to investigate work capacity and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a group of MS pa...

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Autores principales: Flensner, Gullvi, Landtblom, Anne-Marie, Söderhamn, Olle, Ek, Anna-Christina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3606119/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23497281
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-224
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author Flensner, Gullvi
Landtblom, Anne-Marie
Söderhamn, Olle
Ek, Anna-Christina
author_facet Flensner, Gullvi
Landtblom, Anne-Marie
Söderhamn, Olle
Ek, Anna-Christina
author_sort Flensner, Gullvi
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Among individuals diagnosed with the chronic neurologic disease, multiple sclerosis (MS), a majority suffers from fatigue, which strongly influences their every-day-life. The aim of this study was to investigate work capacity and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a group of MS patients and also to investigate if work capacity and HRQoL could be predicted by background factors, fatigue, heat sensitivity, cognitive dysfunction, emotional distress or degree of disability. METHODS: A descriptive, cross-sectional, designed survey was undertaken A questionnaire was sent to 323 individuals diagnosed with MS, aged between 20 and 65 years, with physical disability on the expanded disability status score (EDSS) in the interval 0 ≥ EDSS ≤ 6.5, living in Östergötland county in eastern Sweden. Questions on background factors, occupation and work, together with the health-related quality of life short form instrument (SF-36), the fatigue severity scale (FSS), the perceived deficit questionnaire (PDQ) and the hospital anxiety depression scale (HAD) were posed. Associations between variables were analyzed using Pearson’s and Spearman’s correlations. Differences between groups were tested using the Chi-square test, the Mann Whitney U-test, and the Student’s t-test. Predictive factors were analyzed using multiple linear and multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Of those who completed the questionnaire (n = 257, 79.6%), 59.8% were working. Work capacity was found significantly more among men (p < 0.005), those with a higher level of education (p < 0.001), those reporting less fatigue (p < 0.001), and those having no heat sensitivity (p = 0.004). For work capacity, significant predictors were low physical disability (EDSS), low fatigue, higher level of education, male sex and lower age. Those with work capacity showed significantly higher HRQoL than those who had no work capacity (p < 0.001). Levels of fatigue, cognition and emotional distress were found to be major contributing factors for HRQoL. CONCLUSIONS: Work capacity and HRQoL among individuals diagnosed with MS are highly influenced by fatigue which can be considered as a key symptom. Work capacity was influenced by heat-sensitivity, cognitive difficulties and emotional distress and significant predictive factors besides fatigue, were physical disability (EDSS), age, sex, and level of education. Remaining at work also gives a better HRQoL.
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spelling pubmed-36061192013-03-23 Work capacity and health-related quality of life among individuals with multiple sclerosis reduced by fatigue: a cross-sectional study Flensner, Gullvi Landtblom, Anne-Marie Söderhamn, Olle Ek, Anna-Christina BMC Public Health Research Article BACKGROUND: Among individuals diagnosed with the chronic neurologic disease, multiple sclerosis (MS), a majority suffers from fatigue, which strongly influences their every-day-life. The aim of this study was to investigate work capacity and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a group of MS patients and also to investigate if work capacity and HRQoL could be predicted by background factors, fatigue, heat sensitivity, cognitive dysfunction, emotional distress or degree of disability. METHODS: A descriptive, cross-sectional, designed survey was undertaken A questionnaire was sent to 323 individuals diagnosed with MS, aged between 20 and 65 years, with physical disability on the expanded disability status score (EDSS) in the interval 0 ≥ EDSS ≤ 6.5, living in Östergötland county in eastern Sweden. Questions on background factors, occupation and work, together with the health-related quality of life short form instrument (SF-36), the fatigue severity scale (FSS), the perceived deficit questionnaire (PDQ) and the hospital anxiety depression scale (HAD) were posed. Associations between variables were analyzed using Pearson’s and Spearman’s correlations. Differences between groups were tested using the Chi-square test, the Mann Whitney U-test, and the Student’s t-test. Predictive factors were analyzed using multiple linear and multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Of those who completed the questionnaire (n = 257, 79.6%), 59.8% were working. Work capacity was found significantly more among men (p < 0.005), those with a higher level of education (p < 0.001), those reporting less fatigue (p < 0.001), and those having no heat sensitivity (p = 0.004). For work capacity, significant predictors were low physical disability (EDSS), low fatigue, higher level of education, male sex and lower age. Those with work capacity showed significantly higher HRQoL than those who had no work capacity (p < 0.001). Levels of fatigue, cognition and emotional distress were found to be major contributing factors for HRQoL. CONCLUSIONS: Work capacity and HRQoL among individuals diagnosed with MS are highly influenced by fatigue which can be considered as a key symptom. Work capacity was influenced by heat-sensitivity, cognitive difficulties and emotional distress and significant predictive factors besides fatigue, were physical disability (EDSS), age, sex, and level of education. Remaining at work also gives a better HRQoL. BioMed Central 2013-03-15 /pmc/articles/PMC3606119/ /pubmed/23497281 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-224 Text en Copyright ©2013 Flensner et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Flensner, Gullvi
Landtblom, Anne-Marie
Söderhamn, Olle
Ek, Anna-Christina
Work capacity and health-related quality of life among individuals with multiple sclerosis reduced by fatigue: a cross-sectional study
title Work capacity and health-related quality of life among individuals with multiple sclerosis reduced by fatigue: a cross-sectional study
title_full Work capacity and health-related quality of life among individuals with multiple sclerosis reduced by fatigue: a cross-sectional study
title_fullStr Work capacity and health-related quality of life among individuals with multiple sclerosis reduced by fatigue: a cross-sectional study
title_full_unstemmed Work capacity and health-related quality of life among individuals with multiple sclerosis reduced by fatigue: a cross-sectional study
title_short Work capacity and health-related quality of life among individuals with multiple sclerosis reduced by fatigue: a cross-sectional study
title_sort work capacity and health-related quality of life among individuals with multiple sclerosis reduced by fatigue: a cross-sectional study
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3606119/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23497281
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-224
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