Disability in a community population with MS with and without mental disorders

Psychiatric conditions are known to have a detrimental impact on functioning and may therefore influence patterns of disability associated with MS. Population-based studies are needed to evaluate such interactions. The objective of this study was to describe the pattern of interaction of MS and mental disorders on health-related impairments.

The Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS) was a post-censual survey conducted by Statistics Canada in association with the 2006 Canadian Census. PALS collected detailed data from a random sample of n = 28,640 respondents with health-related impairments reported on their census form. The PALS interview collected self-reported diagnostic data and included scales to assess functioning and participation in society.

PALS identified 245 individuals with MS, leading to an estimated (weighted) population prevalence of 0.2% (200 per 100,000), consistent with other Canadian estimates. As expected, impaired agility, vision, communication, mobility, pain, and memory were strongly associated with MS. Mental disorders were also associated with impairment, but interactions between these conditions and MS were generally not evident.

Mental disorders are associated with a higher level of disability in MS but, with the exception of communication, there was no evidence of synergistic interaction between mental disorders and MS in contributing to health-related impairments.