Psychoemotional reactions at the stage of clinically isolated multiple sclerosis syndrome

Abstract

A prospective study of functional disability and its relationship to the emotional response of a patient to the diagnosis of 30 patients with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) was performed. The aim of the study was to evaluate the typical emotional reactions in patients with CIS MS and to determine their impact on patients' functional failure in the future. The study was conducted in three stages. In the first stage, before the infusion of methylprednisolone, an emotional response and a degree of functional failure were assessed. Evaluation of the reliability of emotional emotional reaction was performed after 7 days. Re-evaluation of psycho-emotional response and functional disability was performed during recurent MS attack. A total of 30 patients were included in the study, with an average age of 32.07 ± 8.54 years, including 27 women and 3 men. The most frequent emotional reactions were found to be anxiety (60%), shock reaction (16.56%) of patients, categorical denial of diagnosis (13.33%). Relief was less frequent — 6.67% and sorrow in 3.33% of patients. The reliability of the emotional response was re-evaluated after 7 days (Cronbach's α 0.993). The time interval from the moment of CIS MS to the second attack and diagnosis of MS was 6.33 ± 3.467 months. The EDSS score at the time of the second attack was 2.92 ± 0.081 points. A one-way ANOVA procedure was also used for the multivariable analysis to establish the statistical difference of the EDSS score for different levels of the Reaction score. A statistically significant correlation was established between the response values and the Expanded Disability Status Test (EDSS) total score at P <0.01, as well as the EDSS score at the second clinical attack. It was found that the emotional background of the patient influences the prognosis and functional failure in the dynamics.