TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact and characteristics of quality of life in Japanese patients with multiple sclerosis
AU - Kikuchi, Hiromi
AU - Mifune, Nobuhiro
AU - Niino, Masaaki
AU - Ohbu, Sadayoshi
AU - Kira, Jun Ichi
AU - Kohriyama, Tatsuo
AU - Ota, Kohei
AU - Tanaka, Masami
AU - Ochi, Hirofumi
AU - Nakane, Shunya
AU - Maezawa, Masaji
AU - Kikuchi, Seiji
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments We thank the following colleagues for enrolling patients in the study: Dr. Keiko Tanaka, Department of Neurology, Brain Research Institute, Niigata University; Drs. Takashi Ohashi, and Yuko Shimizu, Department of Neurology, Tokyo Women’s Medical University School of Medicine; Dr. Masahiro Iijima, Department of Neurology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Ms. Kyoko Tsunamoto, Clinical Research Center, Utano National Hospital; Ms. Hisami Hashida, and Chie Masuda, Department of Clinical Neuroscience and Therapeutics, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University; Drs. Ken Matsuoka, and Yuji Kawano, Department of Neurology, Neurological Institute, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University; and Drs. Yusei Miyazaki, Ichiro Yabe, Jun Tashiro, Riichiro Kishimoto, Department of Neurology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine. This work was supported in part by a grant from the Research Committees of Neuroimmunological Diseases, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Japan.
PY - 2011/2
Y1 - 2011/2
N2 - Purpose: To evaluate health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in Japanese patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and investigate associations between the results of these QOL assessments and disease severity. Methods: One-hundred sixty-three Japanese MS patients completed a questionnaire battery comprising the Functional Assessment of MS (FAMS), the Nottingham Adjustment Scale-Japanese version (NAS-J), and the European QOL scale (EQ-5D). Additional five factors affecting QOL as identified by MS patients in a focus group interview were also investigated: employment status, change of income, availability of disease information, communication with medical staff, and care received. Disease severity was determined using the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). Results: There was a strong negative correlation of the subscale scores for mobility, symptoms, emotional well-being, thinking and fatigue, and additional concerns on the FAMS with EDSS score. For the NAS-J, only acceptance of the condition was correlated with disease severity. Among the five additional aspects of the condition identified by patients, employment status, income, and disease information were shown to be important for maintaining QOL in patients with MS. Conclusions: Support for finding employment and having increased or maintained household income and readily available information about the disease contribute to improving QOL in Japanese MS patients.
AB - Purpose: To evaluate health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in Japanese patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and investigate associations between the results of these QOL assessments and disease severity. Methods: One-hundred sixty-three Japanese MS patients completed a questionnaire battery comprising the Functional Assessment of MS (FAMS), the Nottingham Adjustment Scale-Japanese version (NAS-J), and the European QOL scale (EQ-5D). Additional five factors affecting QOL as identified by MS patients in a focus group interview were also investigated: employment status, change of income, availability of disease information, communication with medical staff, and care received. Disease severity was determined using the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). Results: There was a strong negative correlation of the subscale scores for mobility, symptoms, emotional well-being, thinking and fatigue, and additional concerns on the FAMS with EDSS score. For the NAS-J, only acceptance of the condition was correlated with disease severity. Among the five additional aspects of the condition identified by patients, employment status, income, and disease information were shown to be important for maintaining QOL in patients with MS. Conclusions: Support for finding employment and having increased or maintained household income and readily available information about the disease contribute to improving QOL in Japanese MS patients.
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U2 - 10.1007/s11136-010-9725-2
DO - 10.1007/s11136-010-9725-2
M3 - Article
C2 - 20700657
AN - SCOPUS:79951775267
VL - 20
SP - 119
EP - 131
JO - Quality of Life Research
JF - Quality of Life Research
SN - 0962-9343
IS - 1
ER -
