To Identify and Evaluate the Predictive Factors for Depression in Patients Diagnosed With Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, demyelinating disease of the central nervous system and is considered to be one of the most common cause of neurological disability in young adults. The clinical and pathophysiological characteristics of the disease lead to the association of several conditions over time, among which the depression and/or the depression symptoms are one of the most important ones. The underlying mechanism of depression is not clear and the etiology of depression is considered to be multifactorial and especially associated to the psychosocial stress, to the presence of focal demyelinating lesions and to the immune malfunction. Several scales like Beck Depression Inventory Fast Screen (BDI FS), Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) have been used to objectify the presence of depression symptoms in subjects with MS.

OBJECTIVES

Primary objective:

• Identification of the predictive factors for the development of depression symptoms in subjects with MS in Argentina

Secondary objective:

• Evaluation of the proportion of subjects that develop depression symptoms during the follow up

The subjects will be managed with the clinical and therapeutic elements that the treating doctors considered appropriate, without modifying their decisions due to the subjects' inclusion into the study.