Association between Frailty and Sleep Quality in People Living with Multiple Sclerosis: An Exploratory Study

Research Objectives To explore the association between frailty and sleep quality in people living with multiple sclerosis (MS). Design Secondary analysis. Setting University research laboratory. Participants A total of 76 individuals with multiple sclerosis (mean age: 47.63±10.89 years, 81.6% female, mean body mass index (BMI): 37.10±5.48kg/m2, PDDS: 0.82±1.20) were included in this cross-sectional analysis. Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures A comprehensive frailty index (FI) based on 41 health deficits from various health domains was calculated. Sleep quality was determined by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index questionnaire (PSQI). The relationship between FI and sleep quality was examined by means of non-parametric partial correlations. Results Overall, 67.1% of the participants were identified as non-frail (FI ≤ 0.25) and 32.9% were identified as frail (FI > 0.25). A significant correlation between higher FI scores and higher global PSQI scores was observed (ρ=0.43, p< 0.0). In addition, cross-tabulation analyses revealed that frail participants had worse subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, habitual sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances, and daytime dysfunction, and higher use of sleep medications compared to the non-frail (p < 0.05). Conclusions The current study identified a significant association between frailty and sleep quality in people living with MS with minimal disability. These findings underscore the critical importance of untangling the relationship between frailty and sleep quality in people living with MS. This finding could lead to a more targeted approach for rehabilitation interventions aiming to improve frailty in MS. Author(s) Disclosures This study was supported by grants from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (MB-1807-31633, RG-1907-34376, RG-1901-33239).