Tekirdag Namık Kemal University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Tekirdag, Turkey.
Tekirdag Namık Kemal University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Tekirdag, Turkey.
Mult Scler Relat Disord. 2021 Aug;53:103039. doi: 10.1016/j.msard.2021.103039. Epub 2021 May 24.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease and acute exacerbations are also a part of the clinical course. The presence of the disease and relapses cause stress in people with MS (pwMS). For this reason, stress coping strategies of the patients are important in reducing perceived stress. Our aim in this study is to evaluate which strategies pwMS use during the COVID-19 pandemic, the effect of the strategies on perceived stress, their relationship with relapses and their role on quality of life (QoL).
An online form including Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; 10 items), Coping with Experienced Problems Scale (Brief-COPE; 28 items) and SF-12 were sent to 340 pwMS under our follow-up.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we found that the patients used the strategies of turn to religion, planning and acceptance at a high rate. PSS score was high in 23 (11.2%) of the patients. The patients with low perceived stress used the acceptance strategy more (P=0.008). We found a negative correlation between physical component summary (PCS) of SF-12 and denial (r=-0.2, p<0.001) and distraction (r =-0.1, p=0.04). A negative correlation was found between mental component summary (MCS) of SF-12 and behavioral disconnection (r=-0.2, p=0.006). There was a positive correlation between MCS and humor (r=0.1, p=0.04), use of instrumental support (r=0.2, p=0.009), planning (r=0.1, p=0.04), and positive reframing (r=0.2, p=0.002).
PwMS have been successful in coping with stress in the first half of the pandemic with the combination of emotional and problem-focused strategies. Acceptance strategy was highly adopted by patients with low PSS, and the tendency to use the active coping strategy together with the acceptance strategy was high in patients without relapses. Adoption to emotional strategies may have prevented the severe deterioration in QoL in this study group in the early period of Covid-19 pandemic.
多发性硬化症（MS）是一种慢性炎症性疾病，急性恶化也是其临床病程的一部分。疾病的存在和复发会给多发性硬化症患者（pwMS）带来压力。因此，患者的应对压力策略对于减轻感知压力很重要。我们在这项研究中的目的是评估 pwMS 在 COVID-19 大流行期间使用哪些策略，这些策略对感知压力的影响，它们与复发的关系以及它们在生活质量（QoL）中的作用。
我们向 340 名在我们随访下的 pwMS 发送了一份包括感知压力量表（PSS；10 项）、经历问题应对量表（Brief-COPE；28 项）和 SF-12 的在线表格。
在 COVID-19 大流行期间，我们发现患者以高频率使用求助于宗教、计划和接受等策略。23 名（11.2%）患者的 PSS 评分较高。感知压力较低的患者更倾向于使用接受策略（P=0.008）。我们发现 SF-12 的生理成分综合评分（PCS）与否认（r=-0.2，p<0.001）和分心（r=-0.1，p=0.04）呈负相关。SF-12 的心理成分综合评分（MCS）与行为脱节（r=-0.2，p=0.006）呈负相关。MCS 与幽默（r=0.1，p=0.04）、工具性支持的使用（r=0.2，p=0.009）、计划（r=0.1，p=0.04）和积极的重新框架（r=0.2，p=0.002）呈正相关。
pwMS 在大流行的前半段成功地通过情绪和问题焦点策略相结合来应对压力。感知压力较低的患者高度采用接受策略，无复发的患者更倾向于采用积极的应对策略和接受策略。在这项研究中，采用情绪策略可能防止了该研究组在 COVID-19 大流行早期生活质量的严重恶化。
