The effects of interferon β-1b on depression, anxiety, and quality of life in multiple sclerosis

Abstract

AimDirect effects of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) on the central nervous system, the stress of the disease itself, loss of functions, and side effects of the medications may have negative effects on patients’ psychology and qual-ity of life (QOL). The aims of this study are to do psychiatric and quality of life measurements on relapsing remitting MS patients following a new at-tack, at baseline and following the first and sixth months of treatment with IFNβ-1b and to evaluate the effects of IFNβ-1b on psychiatric and quality of life parameters of these patients. MethodThirty patients with relapsing remitting MS were recruited for this study. All patients received IFNβ-1b treatment for six months. Depression [(Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)], anxiety [State Anxiety Inventory (SAI)] and QOL (SF-36) measurements were prospectively obtained in these patients. ResultsThe first and final results on the subscales of SF-36 such as physical role difficulty and pain scale showed a statistically significant difference for all patients in the study (p<.05, p<.05). We observed improvements on these variables. The baseline and sixth-month BDI did not show statistical significance (p>.05). However, the sixth-month SAI score was higher than the baseline SAI score and the difference is statistically significant (p<.007). ConclusionWe found that the interferon compounds administered when patients with relapsing remitting MS had a new attack improved the quality of life. There was no difference in depression scores while using interferon, while IFNβ-1b had a negative impact on the anxiety score.

Keywords

Additional Information

Publisher’s Note
Bayrakol MP remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional and institutional claims.

Rights and Permissions