Psychological consequences of COVID-19 pandemic in Italian MS patients: Signs of resilience?
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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.
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The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown are traumatic events that pose threats to psychological well-being.
“The global pandemic caused by COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown have been widely recognized as traumatic events that pose threats to psychological well-being.”
From Beneficial effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction training on the well-being of a female sample during the first total lockdown due to covid-19 pandemic in italy (2021) · cites this paper as [7]
The Introduction (page unavailable) says lockdown-related restrictions, uncertainty, and health concerns might harm mood and mental health, supporting a possible threat to psychological well-being. It does not characterize the pandemic and lockdown as widely recognized traumatic events; the Discussion reports no negative impact on anxiety or depression in this study’s MS cohort. (LLM, conf=0.85)
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“These results were consistent with findings among patients with multiple sclerosis who reported no increase in anxiety and depression in the six months preceding the COVID-19 lockdown and during it [33].”
Result
- Authors
- Capuano, R., Altieri, M., Bisecco, A., d’Ambrosio, A., Docimo, R., Buonanno, D., Matrone, F., Giuliano, F., Tedeschi, G., Santangelo, G., & Gallo, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli" (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Gallo, Antonio
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of Neurology
- Published
- 2020-07-28
- Volume
- 268
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 743-750
- ISSN
- 0012-1037 (ISSN-L)
- 0340-5354
- 1432-1459
- PMC
- PMC7385478
- OpenAlex
- W3045716555
- Cited by
- 88
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 31 · 2020: 10
- FWCI
- 7.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Neurology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Research Square (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca - Università degli Studi della Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli" (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Università degli Studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Multiple Sclerosis Research Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Neurology › Long-Term Effects of COVID-19
- Keywords
- multiple sclerosis, COVID-19 pandemic, lockdown, psychological distress, anxiety, depression, quality of life, resilience, sexual satisfaction, social function, emotional problems, Italy
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, Adult, Anxiety, Depression, Female, Humans, Italy, Male, Middle Aged, Multiple Sclerosis, Personal Satisfaction, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Quality of Life, Quarantine, Social Behavior, Sexuality, Resilience, Psychological, Pandemics
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