SynthesisMultiple sclerosis and related disorders2022
The psychological impact of Covid-19 pandemic on people with Multiple Sclerosis: A meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Multiple sclerosis and related disorders, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A meta-analysis of systematic reviews and meta-analyses to evaluate the psychological consequences of COVID-19.BMC psychology · 2023Pooled it
- The late onset of emotional distress in people with progressive multiple sclerosis during the Covid-19 pandemic: longitudinal findings from the CogEx study.Journal of neurology · 2022Trial
- Patient Perspectives on Healthcare Utilization During the COVID-19 Pandemic in People with Multiple Sclerosis-A Longitudinal Analysis.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The Health-Related Quality of Life Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on People Living with Multiple Sclerosis and the General Population: A Comparative Study Utilizing the EQ-5D-5L with Psychosocial Bolt-Ons.Brain and behavior · 2025Article
- COVID-19 and multiple sclerosis: challenges and lessons for patient care.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2024Review
- Vaccination status and self-reported side effects after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in relation to psychological and clinical variables in patients with multiple sclerosis.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Personal Networks and Neurological Outcomes of People With Multiple Sclerosis: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Case-Control Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2024Article
- Acceptability of a digital health application to empower persons with multiple sclerosis with moderate to severe disability: single-arm prospective pilot study.BMC neurology · 2023Article
- The Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown Measures and COVID-19 Infection on Cognitive Functions: A Review in Healthy and Neurological Populations.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Review
- Resilience, Stress, Well-Being, and Sleep Quality in Multiple Sclerosis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Teriflunomide treatment outcomes in multiple sclerosis: A Portuguese real-life experience.Brain and neuroscience advancesArticle
- Enhanced cognitive outcomes with telehealth-based tDCS in multiple sclerosis: Results from a sham-controlled RCT.Multiple sclerosis journal - experimental, translational and clinicalArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCovid-19 pandemic caused relevant psychological consequences in the general population. Since people with Multiple Sclerosis (pwMS) are usually at higher risk of psychological distress than age-matched healthy controls (HC), a meta-analytic study was conducted, aimed at evaluating i) differences between pwMS and HC in the psychological variables during the pandemic, ii) differences in the levels of anxiety, depression, stress, sleep disturbances and quality of life before and during the Covid-19 pandemic in pwMS.
methodsThe literature search on three electronic databases yielded 196 studies (113 after the duplicates removal). Seven studies compared psychological variables between pwMS and HC during the pandemic, while seven studies evaluated the pre- vs during the pandemic differences in pwMS. The following outcomes were selected: depression, anxiety, physical QoL, mental QoL, stress, sleep quality/disturbances. Mean weighted effect sizes (ES) were calculated using Hedges'g, via Prometa3 software.
resultsDuring the pandemic, pwMS showed higher levels of depression (g = 0.51, p=.001), anxiety (g = 0.41, p=.032), and stress (g = 0.51, p=.016) compared to HC. The comparison on psychological outcomes before and during the pandemic in pwMS revealed no significant increase during the pandemic on levels of anxiety (g = 0.08, p=.380), depression (g = 0.02, p=.772), mental QoL (g= -0.14, p=.060), physical QoL (g = 0.00, p=.986), whereas sleep quality deteriorated during the pandemic (g = 0.52, p<.001).
conclusionsIn agreement with pre-pandemic literature, pwMS showed higher levels of psychological distress than HC also during the Covid-19 pandemic. Contrariwise, longitudinal studies revealed that, in pwMS, the only psychological-associated variable that worsened significantly was the sleep quality, but this outcome was evaluated only in two studies. Future studies will have to assess/evaluate the long-term psychological consequences of the pandemic on pwMS.
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