The prevalence of anxiety and associated factors in persons with multiple sclerosis
Abstract
Background The prevalence of anxiety and its association with sociodemographic and clinical factors is not well characterized in those with multiple sclerosis (MS). We aimed to estimate the prevalence and examine associated factors of anxiety in persons with MS.Methods A cross-sectional analysis was conducted utilizing data from 244 participants from the Neurological Disease and Depression study. Anxiety was assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression was used to examine anxiety and associated factors.Results Nearly 30.0% of participants had anxiety according to the HADS. The most prevalent symptom of anxiety was "worrying thoughts" (26.6%). After adjustment for various confounders, depression (OR: 7.31 95% CI 3.29-16.26) was found to be associated with higher odds of anxiety, while lower odds of anxiety were associated with higher education (OR: 0.51, 95% CI 0.28-0.94). Furthermore, anxiety was strongly associated with decreased quality of life.Conclusion Anxiety represents a substantial burden for those with MS and is associated with a variety of adverse outcomes including decreased quality of life. Our results further emphasize the importance of understanding the impact of anxiety in this population.
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Depression has been observed to be the strongest predictor of QoL in several studies.
“Depression has been observed to be the strongest predictor in several studies [4,8,10,11,17,20,24,25,26].”
From Biopsychosocial Correlates of Quality of Life in Multiple Sclerosis Patients (2022) · cites this paper as [25]
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- Authors
- Pham, T., Jetté, N., Bulloch, A. G. M., Burton, J. M., Wiebe, S., & Patten, S. B.
- Affiliations
- University of Calgary (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Pham, Tram
- Bulloch, Andrew G.M.
- Burton, Jodie M.
- Wiebe, Samuel
- Patten, Scott B.
- Venue
- Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018-01
- Volume
- 19
- Pages
- 35-39
- ISSN
- 2211-0348 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2765282886
- Cited by
- 64
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 5.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine Team Grant Program
- Canadian Institutes for Health Research
- Alberta Health
- University of Calgary Hotchkiss Brain Institute
- Cumming School of Medicine
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Multiple Sclerosis Research Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer survivorship and care
- Keywords
- multiple sclerosis, anxiety, prevalence, depression, quality of life, educational attainment, sociodemographic factors, clinical factors, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Alberta, Anxiety, Cross-Sectional Studies, Depression, Educational Status, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Multiple Sclerosis, Quality of Life, Comorbidity, Prevalence
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