This cross-sectional observational pilot study investigated egocentric social networks for 10 paired sex- and age-matched adults with and without multiple sclerosis (MS). This study also investigated the relationship between social network measures and various disease factors associated with MS. The relationship between social network measures and communication participation restrictions was also examined.

Participants completed a seven-item social network survey. Social network structure and composition were quantified. The network organization measures (structure analysis) included the total number of members (network size) and extent to which members are connected (network density). The measured characteristics of people around a participant (composition analysis) included the amount of kin relative to network size (proportion of kin), gender variation (gender diversity index), and age variation (standard deviation of age). Standard clinical neuropsychological, psychosocial, and speech metrics quantified processing speed, memory, depression, fatigue, and sentence intelligibility. Measures of communication participation and MS severity were also obtained.

Matched-pairs tests indicated that the proportion of kin significantly differed between paired participants, whereas all other social network measures were similar. For participants with MS, correlation analyses indicated weak associations between proportion of kin and cognitive, psychosocial, and speech measures. However, strong correlations were found between social network size and processing speed, memory, fatigue, MS severity, and communication participation. Gender diversity index also strongly correlated with depression.

Results from this pilot study highlight the importance of evaluating egocentric networks in the clinical management of MS, as maintaining nonkin friendships may be difficult for adults with MS making them vulnerable to social isolation. Furthermore, those with small and less diverse networks may experience more severe cognitive and psychosocial problems and limited communication participation.