The Effects of The Pain on The Quality of Life in The Multiple Sclerosis

Pain is one of the most frequently encountered clinical symptoms of the patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Pain affects the life qualities of many patients with MS negatively, so they need treatment. This research was conducted to evaluate the overall pain level of the patients with MS and determine the effect of pain on life quality. Male and female patients with definite diagnosis of MS and who were between the ages of 20 and 60 and who did not had attack in last 1 year were included in the research. Those patients who had systemic and congenital diseases preventing them from performing ordinary life activities and body movements and those who had difficulties in understanding and performing instructions were excluded from the research. After demographic and disease-related information were obtained from the patients, features about the level of overall pain were evaluated with McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) and the level of life quality was evaluated with Turkish Multiple Skleroz International Quality of Life Form (MusiQol). Pearson and Spearman correlation analysis methods were used to determine the direction and strength of the relation between two quantitative variables according to whether the data showed normal distribution features or not. In the comparison of two independent group averages, independent groups t-test or Mann Whitney-U test were used according to whether the data showed normal distribution features or nor. In the result of the analysis, it was seen that there was a moderate strong relation in positive direction between the level and quality of pain of the patients with MS and the level of life qualities of them. It was seen that the level of pain had a stronger relation with the level of life quality in comparison with the quality of pain. Psychological status, skills to fight with the disease and skills of daily life activities are the main areas which were affected most by the features related to pain. The data obtained from this research can be used to enhance the success in the treatment and prognosis of the patients with MS.