Stress and Its Relationship to Acute Exacerbations in Multiple Sclerosis

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Abstract
The relationship of stressful life events (SLEs) to acute exacerbations of multiple sclerosis (MS) was prospectively studied in 55 consecutive patients with a relapsing-remitting disease course. The quantity and quality of SLEs were determined by the Psychiatric Epidemiology Research Interview (PERI-M) administered at 4-month intervals. Exacerbating cases (n = 20) did not experience a greater number of SLEs than nonexacerbating controls (n = 35); however, patients who experienced qualitatively extreme events were 3.7 times as likely to exacerbate as those not exposed to such events. The quality rather than the quantity of SLEs was associated with acute exacerbations of MS.

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