The impact of sexual dysfunction on health-related quality of life in people with multiple sclerosis

Background:Sexual dysfunction is a prevalent symptom in multiple sclerosis (MS) that may affect patients’ health-related quality of life (HrQoL).Objective:The objective of this paper is to examine the impact of sexual dysfunction on HrQoL in a large national sample using The Multiple Sclerosis Intimacy and Sexuality Questionnaire-19 (MSISQ-19).Methods:Participants were recruited from a large MS registry, the North American Research Committee on Multiple Sclerosis (NARCOMS) Registry. Participants self-reported demographic information and completed the Patient Determined Disease Steps (PDDS), MSISQ-19, and the Short Form-12 (SF-12).Results:The study population included 6183 persons (mean age: 50.6, SD = 9.6; 74.7% female, 42.3% currently employed). Using multivariate hierarchical regression analyses, all variables excluding gender predicted both the physical component summary (PCS-12) and the mental component summary (MCS-12) of the SF-12. Scores on the MSISQ-19 uniquely accounted for 3% of the variance in ...