Interferon-beta-1a treatment has a positive effect on quality of life of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: results from a longitudinal study.
The impact of interferon beta (IFNβ) therapy on a patient's quality of life (QoL) has not been completely clarified. This multicenter, independent, observational and longitudinal study was aimed to evaluate the impact of different pharmaceutical formulations of IFNβ-1a on QoL in patients affected by relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). The multiple sclerosis quality of life-54 questionnaire was used to assess patients' QoL. 394 (66%) patients completed the two-year study; 152 were treated with IFNβ-1a i.m. weekly injected (group a), 152 with IFNβ-1a 44 μg s.c. injected three times a week (group b) and 90 were untreated (group c). After two years, a significant increase was found in the physical health composite score (Δ = +3.1 in group a, Δ = +3 in group b, p < 0.05 in both), mental health composite score (Δ = +4.7 in group a, Δ = +5.5 in group b, p < 0.001 in both), in eight MSQoL sub-items of group a and in seven sub-items in group b. Conversely, the untreated group showed a slight decrease in seven domains. The variable "therapy with DMDs" was associated with improved QoL. QoL of RRMS could be improved by IFNβ-1a treatment, despite natural history data which seem to demonstrate that QoL could get worse over the time.