Distress and risk perception in people living with multiple sclerosis during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background: People living with MS during COVID-19 are experiencing the disruptions of the pandemic and concerns that their health status may place them at greater risk for worse COVID-19 outcomes.

Objective: This study sought to understand how people living with MS in the United States experienced distress and perceived their COVID-19-related risk during the first surge of the pandemic.

Methods: This was a web-based, self-report survey of people with MS who were living in the United States during the early stage of COVID-19. Primary outcomes were depression, anxiety, and positive-affect and well-being. Participants (N = 491) also provided data on demographics, MS-related factors, COVID-19 factors, and psychological coping.

Results: Psychological distress was associated with age, psychological coping strategies, and having had symptoms consistent with COVID-19, but not with MS disease-related variables and COVID-19 risk factors. Perception of COVID-19-related risk was associated with age, MS disease severity, COVID-19-related factors, and anxiety.

Conclusion: This study demonstrated that even during COVID-19, distress and risk perception are primarily driven by psychological factors, experiencing symptoms consistent with COVID-19 and age, with minimal contribution from individual differences in health status, providing an impetus for continued efforts to optimize psychological interventions for people living with MS.

Keywords: COVID-19; Coping; Distress; Multiple sclerosis.