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Alhazzani et al. Neuroimmunol Neuroinflammation 2018;5:8 Neuroimmunology
DOI: 10.20517/2347-8659.2017.55 and Neuroinflammation

Original Article Open Access

Depression severity and its predictors among
multiple sclerosis patients in Saudi Arabia: a cross-

sectional study

Adel Ali Alhazzani , Mohammed Saeed Alqahtani , Hassan Ogran , Osamah Hussain Abuhawi ,
3
1
1,2
3
Abdulrahman Yahya Asiri , Ali Mohammed Al-Hanash , Reem Ali AlQahtany , Adel Ali Alfaifi ,
3
1
3
1
Abdullmgeed Abdullah Asiri , Muhannad Ali Asiri 1
1
1 College of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha 62217, Saudi Arabia.
2 Neurology Section, King Abdulaziz Medical City, National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh 11543, Saudi Arabia.
3 Medical Department, Asser Central Hospital, Abha 62217, Saudi Arabia.
Correspondence to: Dr. Adel Ali Alhazzani, Neurology Section, King Abdulaziz Medical City, National Guard Health Affairs, PO
Box 22490, Riyadh 11543, Saudi Arabia. E-mail: alhazzaniad1@ngha.med.sa
How to cite this article: Alhazzani AA, Alqahtani MS, Ogran H, Abuhawi OH, Asiri AY, Al-Hanash AM, AlQahtany RA, Alfaifi
AA, Asiri AA, Asiri MA. Depression severity and its predictors among multiple sclerosis patients in Saudi Arabia: a cross-
sectional study. Neuroimmunol Neuroinflammation 2018;5:8. http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2347-8659.2017.55
Received: 10 Nov 2017 First Decision: 25 Feb 2018 Revised: 6 Mar 2018 Accepted: 14 Mar 2018 Published: 23 Mar 2018
Science Editor: Athanassios P. Kyritsis Copy Editor: Jun-Yao Li Production Editor: Cai-Hong Wang

Abstract
Aim: To assess depression severity among multiple sclerosis (MS) patients.

Methods: Our survey was carried out among a sample of 598 MS patients (35.8% were males and 64.2% were females)
from all different regions of KSA. A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. The Chi-square test was
applied to examine the association between demographic factors, depression severity and level of disability.

Results: The mean age of patients at the time of diagnosis was 26.1 ± 7.9 years (range 15 to 60 years). The mean duration
of the disease was 6.6 ± 4.8 years. More than quarter of patients (27.1%) were admitted during last year. Our results
revealed that 9.7% of MS patients had a positive family history of MS, 27.8% of patients were also suffering from different
chronic diseases. A large proportion of patients were receiving drugs for MS (e.g. interferon-β by 26.2% of patients). Among
respondents, the majority (53.2%) were likely to have a mild level of disability and mild depression severity (30.8%), with a
significant relationship between the level of disability and depression severity.

Conclusion: Severity of depression is mostly mild among MS patients, while only some have severe depression.
Depression severity is significantly related to the level of MS patients’ disability. Early support of MS patients, especially

© The Author(s) 2018. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
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and indicate if changes were made.

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