Fatigue Syndrome in Multiple Sclerosis

Background: Multiple sclerosis (ms) is a chronic and often debilitating disease that mostly affects young people who constitute the active part of community. The incidence of the disease has increased in recent years. Fatigue is one of the common complaints in patients with ms, which may aggravate their disability. However, early diagnosis and treatment have significant impact on their life quality. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of fatigue syndrome in patients with ms and the relationship between frequency of fatigue and depression in ms patients.

Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was carried out on 97 patients suffered from ms. A questionnaire including age, sex, marital status, duration of ms, the disease symptoms and signs were used. For assessing fatigue, iowa fatigue scale (ifs) was applied and for depression assessment, beck depression inventory (bdi) was used. Finally, the obtained data were analyzed using SPSS software.

Results: The study showed a high prevalence of fatigue (66%), which was mostly moderate. The relationship between fatigue and other variables, mainly marital status (p value=0.008), depression (p value<0.001), pyramidal signs (p value=0.039), cerebellar signs (p value=0.007), sensory symptoms (p value<0.001), and visual symptoms (p value=0.017) was statistically significant.

Conclusion: Fatigue is a common compliant in multiple sclerosis. Although, fatigue is a heterogeneous syndrome with various causes, the possibility of its prediction is high in ms patients through clinical evaluation.