Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS), affecting mostly young-aged people. As a chronic incurable disease, in most cases, it can lead to progressive neurological impairment and severe disability. Depression and anxiety are major distress factors for MS patients, being considerably aggravating elements for their functional capacity. In this study, we analysed the mood disorder distribution and the possible correlations between depression, anxiety, automatic negative thoughts, and MS disability. We took into consideration 146 MS patients, who completed a series of questionnaires: Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II), Endler Multidimensional Anxiety Scales-State (EMAS-S), and Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (ATQ). The Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) was used to measure the neurological disability. Of all patients, 30.1% had symptoms for depression and 11% presented suicidal thoughts. After analysing the correlation index between each variable, we found that there is a mild positive correlation between depression and the EDSS score and between anxiety and the EDSS score. A difference is found in the test scores according to the type of the MS disease. Also, automatic negative thoughts are strongly correlated with depression and anxiety, but do not mediate the path between psychological comorbidities and neurological impairment. Sociodemographic features and interferon-beta treatment were not related to the intensity of the mood disorders. The study suggests that depression and anxiety are frequently encountered among MS patients and these mental disfunctions have an impact on their disability. A proper identification of these risk factors may improve the quality of life for these patients.

中文翻译：

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抑郁和焦虑对多发性硬化症患者神经功能障碍的影响

多发性硬化症（MS）是中枢神经系统（CNS）的脱髓鞘疾病，主要影响年轻人。作为一种慢性无法治愈的疾病，在大多数情况下，它会导致进行性神经功能障碍和严重残疾。抑郁和焦虑是MS患者的主要困扰因素，其功能能力明显加重。在这项研究中，我们分析了情绪障碍的分布以及抑郁，焦虑，自动消极想法和MS残疾之间的可能相关性。我们考虑了146名MS患者，他们完成了一系列问卷调查：贝克抑郁量表II（BDI-II），Endler多维焦虑量表状态（EMAS-S）和自动思考问卷（ATQ）。扩展残疾状况量表（EDSS）用于测量神经系统残疾。在所有患者中，有30.1％有抑郁症状，有11％表示有自杀念头。在分析每个变量之间的相关指数后，我们发现抑郁与EDSS评分之间以及焦虑与EDSS评分之间存在轻微的正相关。根据MS疾病的类型，在测试分数中发现差异。此外，自动消极想法与抑郁和焦虑密切相关，但不介导心理合并症和神经功能障碍之间的关系。社会人口统计学特征和干扰素-β治疗与情绪障碍的强度无关。该研究表明，MS患者经常会遇到抑郁和焦虑，这些精神障碍会影响他们的残疾。正确识别这些危险因素可以改善这些患者的生活质量。