Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Summer;9(3):244-251.
doi: 10.22088/cjim.9.3.244.

Impairment, disability and fatigue in multiple sclerosis

Shahnaz Shahrbanian  1   2   3 , Pierre Duquette  4 , Nancy E Mayo  1   5
Affiliations

Impairment, disability and fatigue in multiple sclerosis

Shahnaz Shahrbanian et al. Caspian J Intern Med. 2018 Summer.

Abstract

Background: Identifying the predictors of pain is important for both health professionals and researchers, because pain has repeatedly been found to be a strong predictor of activity limitations and participation restrictions. The objective of this study was to determine the predictors of pain presence and severity in a large, well-designed sample of community dwelling individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. A center-stratified random sample including 188 persons with MS were recruited from three major MS clinics in the Greater Montreal, Canada. Main outcomes included pain prevalence and severity. Predictor variables included depression, anxiety, perceived health status, fatigue, sleep problems, and perceived cognitive deficits. Participants completed three questionnaires: the first asked about the socio-demographic and clinical information of the subjects, the second assessed the pain characteristics of the subjects, and the third covered the predictor variables.

Results: The prevalence of pain in our sample was 42%. MS- related disability was found to be in the main predictor for both pain presence and intensity. Fatigue also was a main contributor to pain presence. The results of this study also showed that pain was associated with higher levels of depression, anxiety, sleep problems, and perceived cognitive deficits, and diminished perceived health status.

Conclusions: The results of this study indicated that pain is a common symptom among people with MS. Pain presence was predicted by MS-related disability and fatigue, while pain intensity was only predicted by MS severity.

Keywords: Fatigue; MS-related disability; Multiple sclerosis; Pain presence; Pain severity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Svendsen KB, Jensen TS, Overvad K, et al. Pain in patients with multiple sclerosis. Arch Neurol. 2003;60:1089–94. - PubMed
    1. Ben Salah R, Cherif Y, Frikha F, Dammak C, Snoussi M, Jallouli M, et al. A challenging entity: multiple sclerosis or collagen tissue disorders: A case series of 6 patients. Caspian J Intern Med. 2017;8:321–8. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ehde DM, Osborne TL, Hanley MA, Jensen MP, Kraft GH. The scope andnature of pain in persons with multiple sclerosis. Mult Scler. 2006;12:629–38. - PubMed
    1. Kalia LV, O’Connor PW. Severity of chronic pain and its relationship to quality of life in multiple sclerosis. Mult Scler. 2005;11:322–7. - PubMed
    1. Douglas C, Wollin JA, Windsor C. Illness and demographic correlates of chronic pain among a community-based sample of people with multiple sclerosis. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2008;89:1923–32. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources