Investigation of quality of life in multiple sclerosis patients BY multiple correspondence analysis

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurological disease and may cause sequel with some symptoms. The disease has observable effects on patients with regard to quality of life. Multiple correspondence analysis presents the relationships between categorical variables in two dimensional spaces. Multiple correspondence analysis is the general form of simple correspondence analysis showing the relationship between two categorical variables in two-dimensional space. In this study, multiple correspondence analysis was performed on the quality of life scale in MS patients. Data were collected by questionnaire and SF-36 scale from patients diagnosed with MS at Van Regional Training and Research Hospital of Health Sciences University and Dursun Odabaş Medical Center of Van Yuzuncu Yil University. There were 15 questions in the questionnaire and 36 items in the SF-36 scale. 103 individuals were included in the study. The relationships between each item and 8 categorical variables were examined and presented in two-dimensional space. By two dimensions, total accounted variance in the original variables varied between 45% and 57%. As a result, it has been suggested that multiple correspondence analysis can be used to examine the relationships between the items of the scales, especially the SF-36, and demographic characteristics in terms of visually presentation and easy interpretation.