Is there a multiple sclerosis personality?

Personality traits that are often seen in patients with a recent MS diagnosis less than 2 years ago are, first and foremost, being highly agreeable, followed by being conscientious, open, and neurotic.

Exclusion criteria: dementia, cognitive impairment, or developmental delay before MS diagnosis

Neuropsychiatric changes, including personality disturbances, are common in patients with MS. Personality traits may help explain differences on an individual level in disease acceptance, coping styles, andpsychological well-being. As such, these traits impact patient care, compliance, and quality of life and influence health behaviours, symptoms, and comorbidities. Little is known about the personality of MS patients at the earliest stages of the disease.

Therefore, the MS clinic of the Western University in Canada, performed a retrospective chart review on adult patients that had been recently diagnosed with MS. Comprehensive baseline psychometric testing of MS patients, including NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), is a standard of care in this centre. The aim of the study was to determine if an “MS personality” exists and which personality traits would then predominate.

Exclusion criteria were dementia, cognitive impairment, or developmental delay before MS diagnosis. The study included NEO-FFI results of 390 patients, collected within the first 2 years after the diagnosis. Of these, 363 (93%) had relapsing-remitting MS, about two thirds were female and nearly all were white. Mean age was 38 years and median EDSS was 2.0 (0.0–6.0).

No significant differences between women and men for neuroticism, extraversion, or openness

The most frequently prescribed treatments were interferon beta/glatiramer acetate (32.8%), dimethyl fumarate (15.9%), or teriflunomide (7.4%); a large proportion (39.0%) received no treatment at all.

Overall, the personality trait that was most predominantly present was being (highly) agreeable: 53.9% of participants were rated “high” or “very high”, and 29.0% “average.” There was a slight tendency towards higher rates of conscientiousness, openness, and neuroticism. Being extravert was generally less prominent: 38.0% scored “low” or “very low”, while 27.2% scored “high” or “very high”. On average, women had significantly higher degrees of agreeableness (p<0.001) and conscientiousness (p=0.007).

No significant differences between women and men for neuroticism, extraversion, or openness were detected. The authors concluded that further studies in a more diverse MS population are needed, examining personality changes over time, and/or associations between personality and MS symptoms/quality of life.