García Urquiza, IruneMartínez, ÓscarLópez Paz, Juan FranciscoSalgueiro, MonikaRodríguez Bermejo, Alicia AuroraZorita-Pérez, JanireGarcía Sanchoyerto, MaddalenAmayra Caro, Imanol2024-11-192024-11-192023García, I., Martínez, O., López-Paz, J. F., Salgueiro, M., Rodríguez, A. A., Zorita, J., García-Sanchoyerto, M., & Amayra, I. (2023). Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with myasthenia gravis. Intractable and Rare Diseases Research, 12(2), 88-96. https://doi.org/10.5582/IRDR.2023.0100310.5582/IRDR.2023.01003http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14454/1981The aim of this study was to compare the effects of the pandemic on health-related quality of life (HRQoL), anxious-depressive symptoms, feelings of loneliness, and fear of COVID-19 between people with myasthenia gravis (MG) and healthy controls. We also wanted to know in which group the variable fear of COVID-19 interfered the most with the results. This cross-sectional study involved 60 people with MG and 60 healthy controls. Participants using an online platform completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the revised UCLA Loneliness Scale and the Fear of COVID19 Scale (FCV-19S). The MG group reported worse levels in HRQoL indicators (p = 0.043- < .001), more severe anxiety-depressive symptoms (p = 0.002), and greater fear of COVID-19 (p < 0.001), but there were no differences in feelings of loneliness (p = 0.002). Furthermore, after controlling for the effect of the fear of COVID-19 variable, the differences remained for physical health indicators, but not for the most of psychosocial indicators (Social Functioning p = 0.102, η2p = 0.023; Role Emotional p = 0.250, η2p = 0.011; and HADS Total p = 0.161, η2p = 0.017). The harmful effect of the COVID-19 pandemic was greater in the MG group, and the perceived fear of COVID-19 had also a greater impact among this group, which has increased its negative effect on their psychosocial health.eng© 2023 International Research and Cooperation Association for Bio & Socio-Sciences AdvancementAnxious-depressive symptomsFear of COVID-19Feelings of lonelinessHRQoLMGjournal article2024-11-192186-361X