A Bel Marra Health report examines the link between multiple sclerosis-related fatigue and poor sleep.
In a recent study, Lauren Strober PhD studied the link between secondary fatigue in MS patients and sleep.
Dr. Strober is a senior research scientist in Neuropsychology & Neuroscience Research at Kessler Foundation, and an assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.
Her current research focuses on the impact of MS on employment of individuals with MS, a group with unemployment rates as high as 80%.
According to Dr. Strober, fatigue hampers daily functioning and well-being. It clearly disrupts a person’s ability to participate in the community and the workplace. She believes that by determining what contributes to fatigue in MS patients, we can keep people engaged in work and social activities and improve their quality of life.
As part of her study Dr. Strober analyzed 107 employed individuals with multiple sclerosis. She found that 61% of them reported poor sleep. On further probing she found that sleep disturbances accounted for 25% of the variance in fatigue while depression accounted for another 7%.
