Quality of Life and Its Determinants among Jordanian Patients with Multiple Sclerosis: A Cross-sectional Analytical Study.

BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a non-traumatic disability that affects the central nervous system and reduces quality of life (QoL). No study from Jordan has specifically assessed the QoL in patients with MS. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate QoL among Jordanian MS patients and examine its association with sociodemographic and medical characteristics. METHODS: This cross-sectional analytical study included adult Jordanian MS patients (aged ≥18 years) who attended the MS Unit at Albasheer Governmental Teaching Hospital, Amman, between December 2023 and July 2025. Data was collected through face-to-face interviews using the validated 26-item WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire. RESULTS: A total of 300 patients with MS were included (mean age: 35.3 ± 11.1 years; female: 68.7%). The overall mean QoL score was 57.2 ± 15.2, indicating generally low QoL. Physical and psychological domains had lower mean scores (49.7 ± 18 and 57.8 ± 18.4, respectively). In the univariate analysis, significant risk factors for poor QoL were parental consanguinity (OR: 1.88, 95% CI = 1.01-3.45) and smoking (OR: 1.74, 95% CI = 1.08-2.77). In the multivariable logistic regression analysis, factors independently associated with lower odds of higher QoL were smoking (OR = 0.454, 95% CI: 0.236-0.871; P = 0.018), having one comorbidity (OR = 0.278, 95% CI: 0.108-0.714; P = 0.008), and secondary progressive MS (OR = 0.260, 95% CI: 0.084-0.798; P = 0.019). CONCLUSIONS: The overall QoL of Jordanian multiple sclerosis patients is poor, particularly in the physical and psychological domains. Factors independently associated with lower odds of higher QoL were smoking, having one comorbidity, and secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, and thus interventions targeting these risk factors may improve the QoL.