Investigation on marital status of patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders in China

• Published in: Multiple sclerosis and related disorders 2023-06, Vol.74, p.104620-104620, Article 104620
• Main Authors: Mou, Zichao, Han, Lin, Cai, Linjun, Luo, Wenqin, Du, Qin, Zhang, Ying, Kong, Lingyao, Lang, Yanlin, Lin, Xue, Wang, Xiaofei, Shi, Ziyan, Chen, Hongxi, Zhou, Hongyu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: China; Divorced; Marital cumulative damage; Marital status; Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders
• ISSN: 2211-0348; 2211-0356
• DOI: 10.1016/j.msard.2023.104620

•The proportion of unmarried male patients is higher than female, while the females reported bigger impacts on their marriage among married NMOSD patients.•Compared to married patients, divorced patients costed more in hospital every time, received longer education, had longer duration of disease, more relapses and higher EDSS score.•NMOSD exerts cumulative damage for patients’ marriage, and the progression of NMOSD likely led to marital breakdown.•Healthy marriage may improve the prognosis of patients by providing the psychological support and improving treatment compliance. Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD) may have a great impact on patients' marriage, and marital status may also affect patients' compliance and prognosis. We investigated the marital status of 494 NMOSD patients in China to explore the mutual influence between them. A cross-sectional survey was conducted by the online questionnaires or telephone follow-up. Basic information of all respondents was analyzed from NMOSD-database of West China hospital. All 444 married respondents finished self-assessment of NMOSD's effect on marriage and over 80% of them accepted Marital Cumulative Damage Score (MCDS). The proportion of unmarried male patients is higher than female (23.1% vs. 9.0%), especially in youth stage (44.0% vs. 20.2%). However, the females reported bigger impacts on their marriage among married NMOSD patients (97.5% vs. 70.7%). Compared to married patients, divorced patients costed more in hospital every time (29,857.1 CNY vs. 15,577.2 CNY), received longer education (12.75 years vs. 9.36 years), had longer duration of disease (117.16 vs. 93.62 months), more relapses (5.50 vs. 3.73) and higher EDSS score (3.58 vs. 2.59). EDSS scores are associated with MCDS (R2=0.267, P