Comorbide depression in patients with multiple sclerosis living in the Northern region

The goal of the paper is to study the prevalence and interrelation of comorbid depression in MS patients living in the northern region. Materials and Methods. The authors examined 149 MS patients living in the northern region. They underwent a standard neurologic examination, including the assessment of MS disability according to EDSS scale. All patients underwent brain and spinal cord neuroimaging (magnetic resonance imaging). To detect depressive disorders, the Beck depression inventory was used. Results. The prevalence of depressive disorders in MS patients of the northern region was 35 %. In terms of severity, the comorbid depression varied from subdepression to moderate depression according to Beck depression inventory. The authors found out that the general conditions for the development of comorbid depressive disorders in MS patients were a high rate of the pathological process, and the signs of corpus callosum atrophy. Reliable correlations with the development of depression were established in case of chronic intoxications (smoking and alcohol abuse), as well as in case of a certain topography of demyelination foci (foci in the spinal cord, semi-oval center, corpus callosum)...