Relationship Between Anxiety and Depression with Disability Over Multiple Sclerosis Patients in Rafsanjan, Iran

[Background]Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the most prevalent diseases of the central nervous system and a category of neurological disorders in which myelin covers of nerves in the brain and spinal cord are locally destroyed and inflamed. Depression is the most prevalent psychiatric disorder, and anxiety is also highly prevalent over MS patients. This research is aimed to study the anxiety and depression frequencies over MS patients.[Methods]This is a descriptive-sectional research performed on 132 patients diagnosed with MS by a neurologist in Rafsanjan, Iran. The Beck Depression Inventory and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) by Spielbergeret al. were applied to measure the depression and anxiety, respectively. The disability level was also determined using the expanded disability status scale (EDSS), according to clinical visits and patient histories. The data were then analyzed using SPSS17 in both inferential and descriptive statistics.[Results]This research was performed on 132 MS patients including 36 males (27.2%) and 96 females (72.8%). The 21 - 40 year-old patient group included the largest portion of the research population. The depression and the state-trait anxiety were evaluated in relation to variables such as their age, gender, occupation, marital status, academic level, taken medications, course of treatment, and disability level. Final results indicated that the state-trait anxiety and depression are not significantly related to the above-mentioned factors.[Conclusions]It can be concluded that although these factors seem to be somehow influential, no significant effects were found, except between state anxiety and gender, and between depression and marital status.