Quality of life and mental health in multiple sclerosis patients during the COVID-19 Pandemic

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on mental health symptoms and quality of life (QoL) in the general population due to necessary public health restrictions such as social distancing. The psychosocial effect of the pandemic on vulnerable groups such as people living with Multiple Sclerosis (PwMS) has been scarcely explored in countries with additional socioeconomical burdens such as access to healthcare disparities METHODS: A questionnaire exploring sociodemographic variables, quality of life, mental health determinants and sleep quality was applied to 92 PwMS to explore changes prior and during the pandemic regarding these domains RESULTS: 58.8% of the subjects were female, median age was 37.1 (± 8.5) years and relapsing-remitting MS was the predominant clinical subtype (83.5%). Unemployment rate significantly increased during the pandemic (12.3% vs 27.8%; p= 0.001). Only 46.4% received medical follow-up care during the pandemic. QoL was affected predominantly due to limitations in instrumented activities of daily life (IADL). Neuropsychiatric symptoms, requiring healthcare during the pandemic, anxiety prior to the pandemic and restricted IADL were predictors of MS-related physical impact worsening, while decreased physical/emotional wellbeing selfcare, neuropsychiatric symptoms, bad sleep quality, anxiety prior to the pandemic and restricted non-instrumental ADL predicted aggravation of MS-related psychological impact measured by the MSIS-29. Curiously, specific items regarding anxiety were more prevalent prior to the pandemic (anxious mood; p=0.02, helplessness; p=0.01), sleep problems; p=0.001 and cardiovascular symptoms; p=0.001, nevertheless, stability was observed for most items. Importantly, 77.3% of PwMS reported at least one neuropsychiatric symptom CONCLUSION: The deleterious effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychosocial wellbeing in PwMS, QoL and mental health outcomes are frequently overseen in vulnerable populations such as PwMS. Albeit the limitations of this study, our results may help implement policies that prevent negative outcomes on psychosocial wellbeing due to public health measures (e.g., social distancing) in MS and other neurological diseases that inexorably need constant follow-up.