The effects of fatigue, depression and the level of disability on the health-related quality of life of glatiramer acetate-treated relapsing-remitting patients with multiple sclerosis in Hungary.

Background: The common symptoms of multiple sclerosis are fatigue, depression, cognitive dysfunction, pain and sexual dysfunction, which influence the health-related quality of life of the patients.

Objective: We aimed to determine the correlations between the health-related quality of life, the level of disability, fatigue and depression in glatiramer acetate-treated patients with multiple sclerosis in Hungary.

Methods: The Hungarian versions of the Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life-54, Fatigue Impact Scale and Beck Depression Inventory questionnaires were completed by 428 relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients treated with glatiramer acetate from 19 Hungarian centers.

Results: The prevalence of fatigue was found to be 62.4%. The prevalence of depression was lower (13.4%) than that described in previous studies (36-54%) among patients with multiple sclerosis. Significant differences in the health-related quality of life were found between fatigued and non-fatigued patients. The level of disability, fatigue, depression and the duration of the disease correlated significantly with the quality of life. However, linear regression analysis indicated that the quality of life was predicted by the level of disability, depression, social and cognitive fatigue, but not by physical fatigue.

Conclusions: Decreasing the disease activity in multiple sclerosis with immunomodulatory therapy, together with improvements of the diagnostics and treatment of the accompanying depression and fatigue are of high priority to improve the health-related quality of life of patients with multiple sclerosis.