Quality of life and sleep profile in relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis patients

: Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common demyelinating autoimmune disease affecting the central nervous system (CNS) which can present by various neurological symptoms including visual impairment, numbness and tingling, focal weakness, bladder and bowel incontinence and cognitive dysfunction. Patients with MS rate their health-related quality of life (HRQOL) to be lower than that of the general populations and also lower than patients with other chronic diseases such as epilepsy and diabetes. Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) frequently report poor sleep, and sleep disorders are more common in MS patients compared to the healthy group. Aim of the work: The aim of the current study was to assess the quality of life and sleep profile in patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). Methods : The study was descriptive comparative case control study which included 40 patients and 40 controls; HRQOL was assessed using the Arabic version of the Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life-54 questionnaire in RRMS patients. Sleep quality was assessed for both patients and control group using the Arabic version of The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. To measure patients’ degree of disability, the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) was used. Results: The results showed that RRMS patients have low mean physical and mental composite score. The results also showed that RRMS patients have high global sleep index indicating poor sleep quality. Conclusion: MS patients have limitations as regard physical and cognitive functions in addition to poor sleep quality, which lead to low health related quality of life.