Ali A, Hussain MT, Jafri SM, Hayee AU, Tauqeer M, Meheshwari BK, Sheikh Q, Maheshwary N.
Depression among Multiple Sclerosis patients: a Comparative study Focussing on the Severity of Depression on Gender Basis.
Biomedica Jan ;33(4):304-8.

Introduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an immune-mediated inflammatory/neurodegenerative disorder of human Central Nervous System leading to demyelination of axons of neurons. The psychiatric manifestations of multiple sclerosis include disorders of mood, affect, and behavior, as well as cognitive impairment. Depression is primarily produced by inflammation in the brain, which is a hallmark of MS. Presence of depression among MS patients makes them more vulnerable to suicidal intentions and viable to treatment failure. Objective: To determine frequency and severity of depression among multiple sclerosis patients presenting to a tertiary care hospital in Karachi. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in a tertiary care hospital of Karachi where a total of 85 patients of multiple sclerosis were interviewed using a structured questionnaire from June to November, 2014. Diagnosis of depression was made according to DSM-IV criteria with patients having a score of > 8 were labelled as having depression. Results: The mean age of study participants was 39.8 ± 8.91 years, 71.8% of them resided in urban areas whereas the mean duration of Multiple Sclerosis in these participants was 9.61 ± 2.0 months. 23.5% of them had depression as determined by the DSM-IV criteria. Furthermore, urban residence was found to be significantly associated with presence of depression (P = 0.008) but no association between gender and severity of depression was observed. Conclusion: The study findings revealed that depression is common among patients with MS and thus healthcare workers must have the essential tools to make appropriate and precise diagnosis as proper diagnosis and severity assessment are critical prior to initiation of therapy. MS care providers therefore need to carefully evaluate depression and suicide risk in their patients.

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