title: Social participation and health-related quality of life in people with multiple sclerosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Social participation is an integral part of everyday life in society; however, evidence about its association with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) is lacking.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study is to explore whether social participation is associated with the Physical Component Summary of HRQoL (PCS) and Mental Component Summary of HRQoL (MCS) in people with MS, controlled for age, gender, disease severity and disease duration.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample consisted of 116 consecutive people with MS (response rate: 75.8%; 72.4% women; mean age 40.3 ± 9.8). People with MS completed the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) for measuring PCS and MCS and the Participation Scale, which measures the level of social participation. Disability was assessed using the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). The associations between social participation, PCS and MCS, were analyzed using linear regression that controlled for sociodemographic and clinical variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  PCS was significantly associated with age, disease duration, EDSS and social participation. MCS did not show significant association with the studied variables. Overall, a multiple regression model explained 48% of the PCS variance, while the proportion of MCS variance explained was not significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Social participation was significantly associated with PCS, suggesting a possibility for intervention in this domain.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Safarik University, Kosice, Slovakia; Graduate School - Kosice Institute for Society and Health, Safarik University, Kosice, Slovakia. Electronic address: pavol.mikula@upjs.sk.
authors.forename: Pavol
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mikula
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Safarik University, Kosice, Slovakia; Graduate School - Kosice Institute for Society and Health, Safarik University, Kosice, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Iveta
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nagyova
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Safarik University, Kosice, Slovakia; Graduate School - Kosice Institute for Society and Health, Safarik University, Kosice, Slovakia; 1st Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Safarik University, Kosice, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Krokavcova
authors.affiliation: Graduate School - Kosice Institute for Society and Health, Safarik University, Kosice, Slovakia; Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Safarik University, Kosice, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Marianna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vitkova
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Safarik University, Kosice, Slovakia; Graduate School - Kosice Institute for Society and Health, Safarik University, Kosice, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Jaroslav
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rosenberger
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Safarik University, Kosice, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Jarmila
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Szilasiova
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Safarik University, Kosice, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Zuzana
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Gdovinova
authors.affiliation: Department of Community and Occupational Health, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Johan W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Groothoff
authors.affiliation: Graduate School - Kosice Institute for Society and Health, Safarik University, Kosice, Slovakia; Department of Community and Occupational Health, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jitse P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: van Dijk
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000150:complications*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011788:Quality of Life; D058992:Social Participation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Health-related quality of life; Multiple sclerosis; Social participation