Psychological status of patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis during coronavirus disease-2019 outbreak.
BACKGROUND
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global health emergency. The aim was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological status of patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS).


METHODS
Data on the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of 95 RRMS patients were collected. We used a self-designed questionnaire, the Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life-54 Instrument (MSQOL-54), Hamilton scales for the assessment of anxiety (HAM-A), and depression (HAM-D). Patients who were tested one year ago were reassessed using the same questionnaires during the COVID-19 outbreak. Group of 99 healthy individuals (HC) were tested, using the same questionnaires.


RESULTS
The main concerns in RRMS patients were that someone that they know could be infected with COVID-19 (78.5%), or could die due to the infection (33.8%), and the lack of specific treatment options (25.8%). The main concerns about the RRMS status were that their disease would be worse if they get infected with COVID-19 (36.4%), that they would experience some difficulties in drug availability (43.6%), that they could not go to the hospital as usual (72.4%). Results on all questionnaires were worse in RRMS patients than in HC (p<0.01). We noticed a statistically significant difference between the results obtained a year ago and the results from April 2020 in HAM-A (p<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
There is an impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological status of RRMS patients. Healthcare organizations need to provide professional therapeutic advice and psychosocial support for this population of patients during the pandemic.
['Stojanov|Aleksandar|A|', 'Malobabic|Marina|M|', 'Milosevic|Vuk|V|', 'Stojanov|Jelena|J|', 'Vojinovic|Slobodan|S|', 'Stanojevic|Goran|G|', 'Stevic|Milos|M|']
D000328:Adult D001007:Anxiety D000073640:Betacoronavirus D000086382:COVID-19 D018352:Coronavirus Infections D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D020529:Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting D058873:Pandemics D011024:Pneumonia, Viral D000086402:SARS-CoV-2 D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
Relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis COVID-19 Anxiety Depression Quality of life