Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurological disease whose etiology has not been fully understood yet in detail. Empirical findings show how psychosocial symptoms are very important features of the clinical presentation of MS, having a deep impact on patient's quality of life, and thus psychological coping strategies may play a central role in reducing the burden of the disease and improving patient's satisfaction of life. MS progression and relapses/exacerbations are unpredictable and may depend on factors such as stressor chronicity, frequency, severity, type, and individual patient characteristics such as depression, personality, locus of control (LOC), optimism, and perceived social support. Due to its importance for health-care delivery, rehabilitation, and nursing, here, we make a systematic review on the current state-of-the-art studies concerning the relationship between LOC and MS, according to the PRISMA guidelines, and we assess the quality and the completeness of the studies using the CONSORT instrument, underpinning their limitations, and suggesting how to fill the gap in this research field. 1. Introduction 1.1. Multiple Sclerosis Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory progressive neurological disorder resulting in injury of the oligodendrocytes and in axonal demyelination [1]. There are at least 2–2.5 million patients worldwide suffering from MS, and its prevalence is unevenly distributed and highly variable from less than 5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants up to more than 100–200 cases per 100,000 inhabitants [2]. It is more likely to affect women than men with a ratio of 2.3 which has gradually increased over time, and the age of onset is generally young adulthood, usually affecting people in their 20s or 30s [3], even though pediatric and late onset as well as clinical variants have been reported. The progress of the disease is extremely variable and unpredictable, the etiology is unclear, there is currently no cure, and only symptomatic therapy is available [1]. 1.2. The Psychosocial Burden Psychosocial symptoms are very important clinical features of the presentation of MS, having a deep impact on patient’s quality of life [4], thus suggesting an integrated biopsychosocial approach [5, 6] to the disease, as also strongly recommended by the American MS task force [7]. Psychological symptoms include above all depression [8], with a rather high prevalence around 50%, as reported by the recent large-scale study of anxiety and depression prevalence in people with MS in the UK [9]. Depression is more common during
References
[1]
S. L. Hauser and D. S. Goodwin, “Multiple sclerosis and other demyelinating diseases,” in Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, A. S. Fauci, E. Braunwald, D. L. Kasper, and S. L. Hauser, Eds., vol. 2, pp. 2611–2621, McGraw-Hill Medical, New York, NY, USA, 17th edition, 2008.
[2]
R. Milo and E. Kahana, “Multiple sclerosis: geoepidemiology, genetics and the environment,” Autoimmunity Reviews, vol. 9, no. 5, pp. A387–A394, 2010.
[3]
A. Alonso and M. A. Hernán, “Temporal trends in the incidence of multiple sclerosis: a systematic review,” Neurology, vol. 71, no. 2, pp. 129–135, 2008.
[4]
M. José Sá, “Psychological aspects of multiple sclerosis,” Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery, vol. 110, no. 9, pp. 868–877, 2008.
[5]
M. Eid, “The bio-psycho-social model: how accurate and valid is it?” Journal of Psychology and Psychotherapy, vol. 2, article e103, 2012.
[6]
N. L. Bragazzi and G. Del Puente, “The bio-psycho-social model and beyond: its limitations and the need for a new model. A response to eid's editorial ‘the bio-psycho-social model: how accurate and valid is it?’,” Open Access Scientific Reports, vol. 1, no. 8, p. 399, 2012.
[7]
Goldman Consensus Group, “The Goldman Consensus statement on depression in multiple sclerosis,” Multiple Sclerosis, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 328–337, 2005.
[8]
A. Feinstein, “Multiple sclerosis and depression,” Multiple Sclerosis, vol. 17, no. 11, pp. 1276–1281, 2011.
[9]
K. H. Jones, D. V. Ford, P. A. Jones et al., “A large-scale study of anxiety and depression in people with Multiple Sclerosis: a survey via the web portal of the UK MS Register,” PLoS ONE, vol. 7, no. 7, Article ID e41910, 2012.
[10]
C. I. Mitsonis, C. Potagas, I. Zervas, and K. Sfagos, “The effects of stressful life events on the course of multiple sclerosis: a review,” International Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 119, no. 3, pp. 315–335, 2009.
[11]
R. F. Brown, C. C. Tennant, S. M. Dunn, and J. D. Pollard, “A review of stress-relapse interactions in multiple sclerosis: important features and stress-mediating and -moderating variables,” Multiple Sclerosis, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 477–484, 2005.
[12]
A. K. Artemiadis, A. A. Vervainioti, E. C. Alexopoulos, A. Rombos, M. C. Anagnostouli, and C. Darviri, “Stress management and multiple sclerosis: a randomized controlled trial,” Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, vol. 27, no. 4, pp. 406–416, 2012.
[13]
B. Rapaport and S. Karceski, “Multiple sclerosis and stress,” Neurology, vol. 79, no. 5, pp. e47–e49, 2012.
[14]
M. Fournier, D. de Ridder, and J. Bensing, “Optimism and adaptation to chronic disease: the role of optimism in relation to self-care options of type I diabetes mellitus, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis,” British Journal of Health Psychology, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 409–432, 2002.
[15]
A. Ng, P. Kennedy, B. Hutchinson et al., “Self-efficacy and health status improve after a wellness program in persons with multiple sclerosis,” Disability and Rehabilitation, 2012.
[16]
A. Büssing, P. F. Matthiessen, and T. Ostermann, “Engagement of patients in religious and spiritual practices: confirmatory results with the SpREUK-P 1.1 questionnaire as a tool of quality of life research,” Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, vol. 3, article 53, 2005.
[17]
Y. Suh, M. Weikert, D. Dlugonski, B. Sandroff, and R. W. Motl, “Physical activity, social support, and depression: possible independent and indirect associations in persons with multiple sclerosis,” Psychology, Health and Medicine, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 196–206, 2012.
[18]
M. P. McCabe, M. Stokes, and E. McDonald, “Changes in quality of life and coping among people with multiple sclerosis over a 2 year period,” Psychology, Health and Medicine, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 86–96, 2009.
[19]
A. Feinstein, “An examination of suicidal intent in patients with multiple sclerosis,” Neurology, vol. 59, no. 5, pp. 674–678, 2002.
[20]
M. Pompili, A. Forte, M. Palermo et al., “Suicide risk in multiple sclerosis: a systematic review of current literature,” Journal of Psychosomatic Research, vol. 73, no. 6, pp. 411–417, 2012.
[21]
P. Theofilou and A. R. Saborit, “Health locus of control and diabetes adherence,” Journal of Psychology and Psychotherapy, vol. 3, p. e002, 2012.
[22]
P. Theofilou, “Interventions to support medication adherence in individuals with chronic disease: the role of health professionals,” Journal of Community Medicine and Health Education, vol. 2, article e104, 2012.
[23]
P. Theofilou, “Factors affecting level of compliance in chronic patients,” Internal Medicine, vol. 2, p. e106, 2012.
[24]
M. A. Rowe, “The impact of internal and external resources on functional outcomes in chronic illness,” Research in Nursing and Health, vol. 19, no. 6, pp. 485–497, 1996.
[25]
S. Kern and T. Ziemssen, “Brain-immune communication psychoneuroimmunology of multiple sclerosis,” Multiple Sclerosis, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 6–21, 2008.
[26]
K. A. Kubitz, B. S. Peavey, and B. S. Moore, “The effect of daily hassles of humoral immunity: an interaction moderated by locus of control,” Biofeedback and Self-Regulation, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 115–123, 1986.
[27]
C. Reynaert, P. Janne, A. Bosly et al., “From health locus of control to immune control: internal locus of control has a buffering effect on natural killer cell activity decrease in major depression,” Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, vol. 92, no. 4, pp. 294–300, 1995.
[28]
D. Moher, A. Liberati, J. Tetzlaff, D. G. Altman, and The PRISMA Group, “Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement,” PLoS Medicine, vol. 6, no. 6, Article ID e1000097, 2009.
[29]
L. Turner, L. Shamseer, D. G. Altman et al., “Consolidated standards of reporting trials (CONSORT) and the completeness of reporting of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) published in medical journals,” Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, vol. 11, Article ID MR000030, 2012.
[30]
A. C. Garfield and N. B. Lincoln, “Factors affecting anxiety in multiple sclerosis,” Disability and Rehabilitation, vol. 34, no. 24, pp. 2047–2052, 2012.
[31]
L. Wells, E. B. Thorsteinsson, and R. F. Brown, “Control cognitions and causal attributions as predictors of fatigue severity in a community sample,” Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 152, no. 2, pp. 185–198, 2012.
[32]
M. C. Gay, P. Vrignaud, C. Garitte, and C. Meunier, “Predictors of depression in multiple sclerosis patients,” Acta Neurologica Scandinavica, vol. 121, no. 3, pp. 161–170, 2010.
[33]
D. Vuger-Kova？i？, R. Gregurek, D. Kova？i？, T. Vuger, and B. Kaleni？, “Relation between anxiety, depression and locus of control of patients with multiple sclerosis,” Multiple Sclerosis, vol. 13, no. 8, pp. 1065–1067, 2007.
[34]
C. E. Schwartz, “Teaching coping skills enhances quality of life more than peer support: results of a randomized trial with multiple sclerosis patients,” Health Psychology, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 211–220, 1999.
[35]
L. MacLeod and G. MacLeod, “Control cognitions and psychological disturbance in people with contrasting physically disabling conditions,” Disability and Rehabilitation, vol. 20, no. 12, pp. 448–456, 1998.
[36]
R. Wassem, “A test of the relationship between health locus of control and the course of multiple sclerosis,” Rehabilitation Nursing, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 189–193, 1991.
[37]
F. R. Halligan and M. Reznikoff, “Personality factors and change with multiple sclerosis,” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, vol. 53, no. 4, pp. 547–548, 1985.
[38]
N. A. Brooks and R. R. Matson, “Social-psychological adjustment to multiple sclerosis. A longitudinal study,” Social Science and Medicine, vol. 16, no. 24, pp. 2129–2135, 1982.
[39]
A. Riazi, A. J. Thompson, and J. C. Hobart, “Self-efficacy predicts self-reported health status in multiple sclerosis,” Multiple Sclerosis, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 61–66, 2004.
[40]
A. de Rooij, L. D. Roorda, R. H. J. Otten, M. van der Leeden, J. Dekker, and M. P. M. Steultjens, “Predictors of multidisciplinary treatment outcome in fibromyalgia: a systematic review,” Disability and Rehabilitation, 2012.
[41]
S. Mehta, S. Pereira, S. Janzen, A. McIntyre, A. McClure, and R. W. Teasell, “Effectiveness of psychological interventions in chronic stage of stroke: a systematic review,” Topics in Stroke Rehabilitation, vol. 19, no. 6, pp. 536–544, 2012.
[42]
L. K. Storr, P. S. S？rensen, and M. Ravnborg, “The efficacy of multidisciplinary rehabilitation in stable multiple sclerosis patients,” Multiple Sclerosis, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 235–242, 2006.
