Evaluation of Sleep Disorders in Patients With Multiple Sclerosis: A Cross-sectional Study in Qom Province, Iran

Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease characterized by inflammation and demyelination of the central nervous system. About half of patients with MS complaint of sleep disorder which could be an indicator of the quality of life. The present study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of sleep disturbances in patients with multiple sclerosis in Qom province.

We included 120 patients from the MS community list and assessed the participants based on the demographic, Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) and Global Sleep Assessment (GSA) questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS v. 23 software.

We showed that the majority of our patients (74.2) were women with a Mean±SD age of 33.95±8.01 years old. 90(75%) of our patients suffered from at least one sleep disturbance in which difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep were the main complaints. Age was estimated to be the main independent factor significantly associated with sleep disturbance. Except the gender, other studied variables had a considerable impact on certain types of sleep-related disorders.

As sleep disorders is frequent and mainly undiagnosed in patients with MS, it is necessary to routine evaluate the patients for sleep disorders.