The impact of sexual dysfunction on health-related quality of life in people with multiple sclerosis

• Published in: Multiple sclerosis Vol. 20; no. 5; pp. 610 - 616
• Main Authors: Schairer, Laura C, Foley, Frederick W, Zemon, Vance, Tyry, Tuula, Campagnolo, Denise, Marrie, Ruth Ann, Gromisch, Elizabeth S, Schairer, David
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.04.2014; Sage Publications; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Degenerative and inherited degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Leukodystrophies. Prion diseases; Disability Evaluation; Female; Health Surveys; Humans; Immunomodulators; Linear Models; Male; Medical sciences; Mental Health; Middle Aged; Multiple Sclerosis - diagnosis; Multiple Sclerosis - epidemiology; Multiple Sclerosis - physiopathology; Multiple Sclerosis - psychology; Multiple sclerosis and variants. Guillain barré syndrome and other inflammatory polyneuropathies. Leukoencephalitis; Multivariate Analysis; Neurology; North America; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Quality of Life; Registries; Risk Factors; Severity of Illness Index; Sexual Dysfunction, Physiological - diagnosis; Sexual Dysfunction, Physiological - epidemiology; Sexual Dysfunction, Physiological - physiopathology; Sexual Dysfunction, Physiological - psychology; Sexual Dysfunctions, Psychological - diagnosis; Sexual Dysfunctions, Psychological - epidemiology; Sexual Dysfunctions, Psychological - physiopathology; Sexual Dysfunctions, Psychological - psychology; Surveys and Questionnaires; North America; quality of life; Multiple sclerosis; Nervous system diseases; Sexual dysfunction; Central nervous system disease; Degenerative disease; Inflammatory disease; Quality of life
• ISSN: 1352-4585; 1477-0970
• DOI: 10.1177/1352458513503598

Background: Sexual dysfunction is a prevalent symptom in multiple sclerosis (MS) that may affect patients’ health-related quality of life (HrQoL). Objective: The objective of this paper is to examine the impact of sexual dysfunction on HrQoL in a large national sample using The Multiple Sclerosis Intimacy and Sexuality Questionnaire-19 (MSISQ-19). Methods: Participants were recruited from a large MS registry, the North American Research Committee on Multiple Sclerosis (NARCOMS) Registry. Participants self-reported demographic information and completed the Patient Determined Disease Steps (PDDS), MSISQ-19, and the Short Form-12 (SF-12). Results: The study population included 6183 persons (mean age: 50.6, SD = 9.6; 74.7% female, 42.3% currently employed). Using multivariate hierarchical regression analyses, all variables excluding gender predicted both the physical component summary (PCS-12) and the mental component summary (MCS-12) of the SF-12. Scores on the MSISQ-19 uniquely accounted for 3% of the variance in PCS-12 scores while disability level, as measured by PDDS, accounted for 31% of the variance. Conversely, MSISQ-19 scores uniquely accounted for 13% of the variance in MCS-12 scores, whereas disability level accounted for less than 1% of the variance. Conclusion: In patients with MS, sexual dysfunction has a much larger detrimental impact on the mental health aspects of HrQoL than severity of physical disability.