Purpose: To study changes in the psycho-emotional sphere during the period of military hostilities in Ukraine in patients with different types of multiple sclerosis using clinical-mathematical analysis.

Using a specially developed questionnaire: "Assessment of Clinical Pathomorphosis Against the Background of Military Hostilities in Ukraine in Patients with Spinal Involvement and Different Courses of Multiple Sclerosis" created at the Department of Autoimmune and Degenerative Diseases of the Nervous System, Multiple Sclerosis Center, State Institution "P. V. Voloshyn Institute of Neurology, Psychiatry and Narcology of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine," we examined changes in leading psycho-emotional indicators across different types of multiple sclerosis (MS). Evaluation of results was based on methods of mathematical statistics (Wilson score confidence interval, permutation method, and correlation analysis using the φ-φ-coefficient — an analogue of Pearson’s correlation).

We examined 45 patients (3 men and 42 women): those with a relapsing type (n = 25; mean age 47.1 ± 1.9 years; mean age at onset 28.0 ± 1.7 years; disease duration 19.1 ± 1.8 years) and those with progressive types (n = 20; mean age 54.9 ± 2.1 years; mean age at onset 30.1 ± 2.3 years; disease duration 24.8 ± 1.9 years).

From the overall spectrum of psycho-emotional disorders arising during the period of hostilities, we identified leading indicators (anxiety, irritability, sleep disturbance, chronic fatigue syndrome, and low mood) common to both relapsing and progressive types. A statistically significant association was found between the selected indicators and the categories (mean age, age at onset, disease duration), depending on the course type. Analysis of interrelations among psycho-emotional disorders using the phi coefficient revealed different "sets" of indicators involved in forming correlation structures for different types: anxiety, irritability, and sleep disturbance in the relapsing type; and dysphoria, hostility, and tearfulness in the progressive types.