Anxiety and Depression in People with MS

A recent large-scale study highlights the prevalence of anxiety and depression in people with MS in the UK. Over 4,000 people took part in the survey; making this research significant in terms of results and direct feedback from people with MS.

According to the results, anxiety and depression rates were notably high. This was defined by a score of greater than or equal to 8 on a scale of 1-10, for both anxiety and depression. Over half (54%) of the respondents were notably anxious, while just under half (47%) were notably depressed.  The survey used the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) to record people’s responses, with questions divided equally among both conditions to establish levels of anxiety and depression.   While anxiety and depression are commonplace afflictions experienced by the wider population, it isn’t yet fully understood if having MS makes an individual more likely to experience these conditions.  The MS UK register was used to capture these responses, without which it would have been undoubtedly challenging to gain insight into the perspectives and experiences of people with MS. This voluntary register, in its infancy, is already proving useful and its future success lies in the participation of its respondents – people with MS. Read the survey results on NCBI’s website.

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