The Comparison of Quality of Life in Patients with Mild-Moderate Severity of Multiple Sclerosis with and without Dysphagia.

Abstract

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a common chronic disease among young adults. It affects various aspects of Quality of Life (QOL). Dysphagia is a problem associated with neurological damage in MS patients. This study aimed to compare MS patients' QOL with and without dysphagia. This is a cross-sectional study performed on 40 patients with MS (20 with and 20 without dysphagia) selected from the MS Society members of Ahvaz, Iran. Research tools included the Persian version of Dysphagia in Multiple Sclerosis (DYMUS), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life-54 (MSQOL-54). The data were analyzed by SPSS software version 22 and the Mann-Whitney test. The results showed a significant difference in QOL score amongst patients with and without dysphagia. The QOL score of patients with dysphagia was significantly lower than patients without dysphagia. The main differences in the subscale of the QOL Index were mental component and physical activity. MS patients with dysphagia had lower QOL than patients without it. The results show that the quality of life of MS patients with dysphagia is lower than the quality of life of MS patients without dysphagia, and this issue includes different physical and mental aspects of the quality of life of these patients. According to the findings of this study, it seems that early referral of patients with MS to speech and language pathologists for the management of swallowing disorders in the early stages of the disease can be very important and help improve the wellbeing of these patients and their families.