A Pilot Study of Fear of Disease Consequences and Its Relationship with Quality of Life, Depression and Anxiety inPatients with Multiple Sclerosis

Aims: This study aims to determine the relationship between fear of disease consequences and its relationship with quality of life, symptoms ofdepression, and anxiety in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Materials and Methods: This cross‑sectional study was conducted at TabrizUniversity of Medical Sciences. Seventy patients suffering from MS were selected using the convinced sampling method. Data collectiontools were included: Fear of Progression Questionnaire‑Short Form, World Health Organizations Quality of Life‑Brief, Beck DepressionInventory, and Beck Anxiety Inventory. Descriptive statistical methods, independent sample t‑test, one‑way ANOVA, Spearman’s correlationcoefficient test, and linear regression model were used to analyze data by SPSS.22 software. Results: In this study, 38 (54.3%) of patientswere male. Mean score of fear of the disease, quality of life, depression, and anxiety was 28.68 ± 9.18, 86.47 ± 14.11, 15.22 ± 4.86, and15.85 ± 5.55, respectively. Results of Spearman’s test indicated a significant relationship between fear of disease consequences on the onehand and quality of life (rs = −0.53), symptoms of depression (rs = −0.52), and anxiety (rs = −0.48) on the other hand (P < 0.001). Results oflinear regression analysis demonstrated that there is a strength correlation between depression – as the predictive variable – and quality oflife (P = 0.018, standard error [SE] = 0.793, β = −0.283 R2 = 0.57), and anxiety – as the predictive variable – and quality of life (P = 0.005,SE = 0.681, β = 0.332 R2 = 0.64). Conclusion: Considering negative effects of fear of the disease consequences on quality of life, symptomsof depression and anxiety, the patients should be informed about their own conditions, and appropriate mental and health cares should beprovided, and effective interventions should be done to alleviate the fear of the patients.

Keywords:

Anxiety , depression , fear of the disease , multiple sclerosis , quality of life