Fatigue most impactful symptom in MS

According to a recent survey based in the US, fatigue is the symptom that impacts daily functioning the most in people living with multiple sclerosis (MS). The symptom is more severe in people who have relapse, depression, pain and sleep disorders.

Questionnaires were filled out by 200 patients, who had a mean average age of 43.4 years. Most were female (88.5%) and had relapsing remitting MS (96.5%). Most of them said they experienced fatigue every day and over half (55.3%) said they did before they were diagnosed with MS.

The most common trigger factors people reported were heat exposure (83.5%), stress (76.6%) and poor sleep (61.5%).

The findings were presented at MSVirtual2020, the 8th joint meeting of the American (ACTRIMS) and European (ECTRIMS) Committees for Treatment and Research in MS, held September 11-13.