title: Aggressive Traits in People with Multiple Sclerosis-A Case-Control Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neuroimmunological disease that mainly affects young adults and leads to neurological disabilities. Depression, anxiety, cognitive dysfunction, and other psychiatric conditions have often been reported in patients with MS. Other, subtler aspects of psychosocial conditions in MS have been studied, but there is a paucity of papers on the subject. Remarkable degrees of aggression have been described in up to a quarter of patients with MS, but few studies have targeted this outcome in the psychopathological assessment on patients. The objective of the present study was to assess aggressiveness in patients with MS and compare with matched control subjects.
  
  
  METHODS
  The present study included a group of 24 patients and 24 healthy controls matched for gender, age, and socioeconomic level. Patients with moderate or severe disability, anxiety, or depression were excluded. A validated tool was used for assessment of aggressive trait.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Aggressive traits were studied in patients and matched controls, and the results point to a very low level of aggressive tendency in patients with MS, in comparison with controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results from the present study do not confirm findings from other authors who had observed high levels of aggressive behavior in patients with MS. The authors are aware that exclusion of patients with moderate or severe disability, anxiety, or depression might have influenced the results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Universidade Metropolitana de Santos, Neuroimmunology and Rare Neurological Diseases, Santos, SP, Brazil yara@bsnet.com.br.
authors.forename: Yara Dadalti
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Fragoso
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate Program on Learning and Psychology, Universidade Metropolitana de Santos, Santos, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Luana Caramillo
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Going
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Universidade Catolica de Santos, Santos, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Amanda M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Lourido
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Universidade Catolica de Santos, Santos, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Leticia V
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Berlim
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Universidade Catolica de Santos, Santos, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcia B A
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Egas
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Universidade Catolica de Santos, Santos, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Mariani R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Souza
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000523:psychology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Aggression; Anxiety; Behavior; Depression; Multiple sclerosis