Quality of life in multiple sclerosis.

TLDR

Clinical and functional status information aids interpretation of quality of life assessments in multiple sclerosis. The study aims to reduce the negative impact of multiple sclerosis on functioning and quality of life, and proposes that measuring these outcomes should be part of treatment efficacy evaluation. The paper presents the most commonly used generic and specific quality of life questionnaires and describes instruments for assessing depression, cognition, functional ability, and fatigue in multiple sclerosis.

Abstract

An overall aim of treatment in multiple sclerosis is to lower the negative impact of the disease on functioning and quality of life of patients. Therefore, a measurement of functioning and quality of life should be included in the evaluation of the effectiveness of treatment. In this paper the most commonly used quality of life questionnaires, either generic and specific, were presented. Information about clinical and functional status is useful in the interpretation of the quality of life assessment results. Because of that, instruments for the assessment of depression, cognitive functions, functional ability and fatigue in multiple sclerosis were also described.