TITLE:
A longitudinal study of quality of life among people living with a progressive neurological illness
AUTHORS:
Marita P. McCabe, Elodie J. O’Connor
KEYWORDS:
Quality of Life; Neurological Illness; Mood; Social Support
JOURNAL NAME:
Health,
Vol.5 No.6B,
June
17,
2013
ABSTRACT:
This study
investigated predictors of quality of life (QOL) of people with progressive
neurological illnesses. Participants were 257 people with motor neurone
disease (MND), Huntington’s
disease (HD), multiple sclerosis (MS), or Parkinson’s. Participants completed
questionnaires on two occasions, 12 months apart. There was an increase in
severity of symptoms for people withMND,
negative mood for people with HD and Parkinson’s, and social support satisfaction
for people with MS. Regression analyses were conducted to determine predictors
of QOL for each group. Predictor variables were length of illness, symptoms
(physical symptoms, control over body, cognitive symptoms and psychological
symptoms), mood, relationship satisfaction and social support. Predictors of
QOL were severity of symptoms for people withMND,
HD and MS; negative mood for people withMNDand Parkinson’s; and social support satisfaction for people with MS. These
results demonstrate the importance of illness severity and mood in predicting
QOL, but also indicate differences between illness groups. The limited role
played by social support and relationship is a surprising finding from the
current study.