Comparison of life stressors in Multiple Sclerosis patients (before Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis) and healthy individuals: A case-control study

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune disorder of the central nervous system that occurs when a person is genetically predisposed and exposed to possible environmental factors. Stressful life events have been mentioned as effective factors in the incidence of MS, but the nature of this relationship has not been properly understood yet. The aim of this study is to determine the amount of exposure to stress before the onset of the disease.Methods: This case-control study was performed on 34 recently diagnosed MS patients in Yazd, Iran during 2019-2020. Their demographic information and scores on the Paykel questionnaire were collected.Results: In the study population, the women with MS were 26% more than the men. The mean age of catching the disease in the case group was 31.70 ± 8.03. In this study, no significant relationship was found between marital status and the incidence of MS (P = 0.15). Those with an under-diploma level of education obtained a higher stress score. In terms of life stressors in general (P = 0.001), psychosocial stressors (P = 0.011), grief-disappointment (P = 0.013) and individual-family problems (P= 0.0001), there were significant differences between the cases and the controls.Conclusion: In summary, this study shows that stressful life events are more common in MS patients than in healthy individuals. In addition to stress, other factors such as anxiety, coping mechanisms, attitudinal aspects (optimism and pessimism), and the amount of social support should be taken into consideration when dealing with MS.

Comparison of life stressors in Multiple Sclerosis patients (before Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis) and healthy individuals: A case-control study Keywords:

Multiple Sclerosis , Anxiety , Stressful life events , Paykel questionnaire