The Study of Circadian Rhythms Disorder and Its Relationship with Chronic Fatigue in Multiple Sclerosis in Compare with Control Group

Circadian rhythm disorders (CRDs) are one of the manifestations of all types of sleep disorders in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients. Knowing about these problems and rationale approach to them can increase the health level and treat these patients. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of circadian rhythm disorders in MS patients in compare with control group and ascertain its association with chronic fatigability. The case-control study was held on 120 Multiple sclerosis patients and 60 healthy people (as control group) in MS Clinic of Al-Zahra Hospital in Isfahan in 2009. The questionnaires of PSQI, FSS and EDSS was given to patients and for assessing the circadian rhythm disorders, the PSQI questionnaire was given to control group too. All the findings were analyzed in SPSS software. The amount of circadian rhythm disorders in MS patients was significantly higher than control group (P = 0.002). In this manner, these kind of circadian rhythm disorders in patients with severe fatigue was significantly higher than patients with mild fatigue (P < 0.05). This study showed that the rate of circadian rhythm disorders in MS patients with severe and mild fatigue was higher than control group. Increased distribution of these groups of disorders may empower the more susceptibility of biologic clock, which regulates the circadian rhythm, in the course of MS disease. More studies are required for confirmation of anatomic relationship between location of demyelinative plaque and types of sleep disorders.