027-23 – Sleep problems in MS; Prevalence, contributory factors, and impact on quality of life outcomes.

Improving quality of life (QOL) in people with MS (PwMS) is of high importance as it represents an often unmet clinical need. Sleep problems may exacerbate existing MS symptoms such as fatigue and cognitive dysfunction, as well as contribute towards mental health issues. Despite evidence that PwMS are more likely to report a clinical sleep disorder and/or problems with their sleep compared to other people with long term conditions, little research has been conducted on this topic.

Little is known about how daily-life factors such as diet and exercise might contribute towards, or protect against, the onset of sleep problems in MS. Additionally, impaired sleep alters the activity of neural regions involved in social/emotional processing (IE., the amygdala and pre-frontal cortex), which might cause disruption to social relationships and further reduce QOL. And so, the current study aims to expand upon the existing research by examining the links between sleep and QOL outcomes for PwMS.

To assess the prevalence and impact of sleep problems in PwMS, we will perform a cross-sectional, online survey study using questionnaires designed to measure sleep quality, the presence of certain sleep disorders (sleep apnoea, restless leg syndrome, and insomnia), as well as more general aspects of mental/physical well-being and disease-related characteristics such as disease duration and disability.

Multiple linear regressions will be used to explore the links between our predictor variables (IE., mental health, physical health, disease-related characteristics, stress) and our outcome variables (sleep quality, sleep disorders, circadian chronotype).