The quality of life impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns for people living with multiple sclerosis (MS): evidence from the Australian MS Longitudinal Study

Purpose People living with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) in metropolitan Victoria, Australia, experienced a 112-day, COVID-19-related lockdown in mid-2020. Contemporaneously, Australian PwMS elsewhere experienced minimal restrictions, resulting in a natural experiment. This study investigated the relati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Quality of life research 2024-06, Vol.33 (6), p.1675-1689
Main Authors: Henson, Glen J., van der Mei, Ingrid, Taylor, Bruce V., Blacklow, Paul, Claflin, Suzi B., Palmer, Andrew J., Hurst, Carol, Campbell, Julie A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Australia
COVID-19
COVID-19 - epidemiology
COVID-19 - psychology
Female
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Middle Aged
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple Sclerosis - psychology
Pandemics
Public Health
Quality of Life
Quality of Life Research
Quarantine - psychology
Questionnaires
SARS-CoV-2
Sociology
Surveys and Questionnaires
Victoria
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Summary:Purpose People living with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) in metropolitan Victoria, Australia, experienced a 112-day, COVID-19-related lockdown in mid-2020. Contemporaneously, Australian PwMS elsewhere experienced minimal restrictions, resulting in a natural experiment. This study investigated the relationships between lockdowns, COVID-19-related adversity, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). It also generated health state utilities (HSU) representative of changes in HRQoL. Methods Data were extracted from Australian MS Longitudinal Study surveys, which included the Assessment of Quality of Life-Eight Dimensions (AQoL-8D) instrument and a COVID-19 questionnaire. This COVID-19 questionnaire required participants to rank their COVID-19-related adversity across seven health dimensions. Ordered probits were used to identify variables contributing to adversity. Linear and logit regressions were applied to determine the impact of adversity on HRQoL, defined using AQoL-8D HSUs. Qualitative data were examined thematically. Results N  = 1666 PwMS (average age 58.5; 79.8% female; consistent with the clinical presentation of MS) entered the study, with n  = 367 (22.0%) exposed to the 112-day lockdown. Lockdown exposure and disability severity were strongly associated with higher adversity rankings ( p  
ISSN:0962-9343
1573-2649
1573-2649
DOI:10.1007/s11136-024-03620-4