Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39443632›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2024

Alexithymia and illness perceptions in persons with multiple sclerosis and their partners.

Maria Luca, Antonina Luca, Francesco Patti, Guillermo Perez Algorta, Fiona Juliet Rosalind Eccles

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In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Maria LucaDivision of Health Research, Faculty of Health and Medicine, Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster, LA1 4YW, UK. lucmaria@tiscali.it.ORCID 0000-0001-5935-8283
Antonina LucaDepartment of Medicine, Kore University of Enna, Enna, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-8397-3478
Francesco PattiDepartment of Medicine, Surgery and Advanced Technologies "G.F. Ingrassia", University of Catania, Catania, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-6923-0846
Guillermo Perez Algorta *Division of Health Research, Faculty of Health and Medicine, Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster, LA1 4YW, UK.ORCID 0000-0001-6610-4951
Fiona Juliet Rosalind Eccles *Division of Health Research, Faculty of Health and Medicine, Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster, LA1 4YW, UK.ORCID 0000-0003-1484-2703

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Illness perceptions (IPs) encompass opinions regarding the nature, severity and curability of a disease. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the association between alexithymia and IPs among persons with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) and their partners, as well as within the dyads composed of PwMS and partners. PwMS referred to the Multiple Sclerosis Center of the University Hospital "Policlinico-San Marco" from 11th August 2021 to 7th January 2022 and their partners completed a battery of questionnaires, including the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 and the Illness Perception Questionnaire Revised. A dyadic data analysis (Actor-Partner Interdependence Model) was performed to test the effect of alexithymic traits both on a person's own illness perceptions (actor effect) and on the partner's illness perceptions (partner effect). 100 PwMS (71 women; mean age 47.6 ± 10.4 years) and 100 partners (29 women; mean age 49.1 ± 10.8 years), with a mean partnership duration of 20.1 ± 11.7 years, were enrolled. At the dyadic analysis, statistically significant small-to-moderate actor and partner effects were found considering alexithymia (total score and alexithymic facets) and IPs, whereby higher alexithymic traits related to higher negative perceptions (i.e. consequences, emotional representations) and lower positive ones (i.e. coherence, treatment control). Our findings support the relationship between alexithymia and negative illness appraisals. This data may inform therapeutic interventions aimed at reducing alexithymic traits, which in turn may reduce negative, and potentially dysfunctional, illness perceptions.

Indexed as

Affective SymptomsMultiple SclerosisAdultCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedPerceptionSurveys and QuestionnairesAlexithymiaDyadIllness perceptionsMultiple sclerosisSpouse

Identifiers

PMID39443632
PMCPMC11499675

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.