Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation
 

The relationship between level of physical activity and health related quality of life in women with multiple sclerosis

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  • Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a debilitating, degenerative, and chronic disease that affects over 350,000 individuals in the United States. Symptoms such as fatigue, spasticity, weakness, gait and visual disturbances, numbness and balance problems affect many with MS on a regular basis. There are literally an infinite number of combinations of symptoms that may be experienced by an individual with MS. These destructive symptoms often lead to the reduction or lack of participation in leisure and physical activity. In fact, people with MS were previously told not to exercise at all in fear of exacerbation of symptoms due to excess fatigue. It is now known that exercise can provide important benefits to the MS populations. However, a relationship between the level of physical activity performed and health related quality of life has not been firmly established. This investigation evaluated whether a relationship exists between activity levels and quality of life in individuals with MS. Approximately 180 women with clinically diagnosed multiple sclerosis were contacted and 160 women participated in this study. The average age of the women in this study was 50.1 +/- 11.1 years. Each participant completed 2 questionnaires; The Multiple Sclerosis Health Related Quality of Life Scale (MSQOL-54), and an adapted Yale Physical Activity Survey for Older Adults. Information from the questionnaires was scored and analyzed using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. The women had been diagnosed for and average of 12 years and over half the women (55%) were diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS. It was found that total physical activity was correlated to physical health score (r = .446), social function score (r = .326) and physical composite score (r = .330) at p<.01. Specifically, total physical activity was able to account for 20% of the variance in the physical health score according to an r = .446 and r2 = .199. Light and moderate physical activity scores were significantly correlated to several quality of life scales as well, but total activity was the variable with the strongest relationships (r = .446 for total activity versus r = .235 and r = .281 for light and moderate). This study showed a relationship between levels of daily physical activity and several components of health-related quality of life. These results are valuable considering it had been shown that physical dimensions play a very large role in overall health-related quality of life.
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