EATİNG ATTİTUDE İN MULTİPLE SCLEROSİS

Aim: To examine attitudes to eating in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. Material and Method: The study included 64 cases diagnosed with MS according to the 2017 McDonald criteria and a control group of 64 healthy volunteers of similar age, gender, and education level. All the study participants underwent a detailed neurological examination and were then administered the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and the Beck Depreession Inventory (BDI). Results: In the comparisons between the groups of the EAT results, a score of ≥30 was obtained by 24 (37.5%) MS patients and 14 (21.8%) of the control group. When the MS patients were compared in two groups according to the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score of ≤3 and ≥4, an EAT score of ≥30 was obtained by 11 (25%) patients with EDSS score ≤ 3 and by 13 (68.5%) patients with EDSS ≥4. Conclusion:The study results demonstrated that the patients with MS had a worse attitude to eating than the control subjects. When it is considered that some foodstuffs are among MS triggers, the presence of eating disorders or poor eating behaviour becomes important.