Depression is the most common syndrome associated with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) with a high prevalence during a lifetime.

To assess the prevalence of depression in patients treated in neurology for MS.

We performed a retrospective study on 17 patients diagnosed with MS and confirmed with the criteria of Mac Donalds 2010 with a follow-up in the neurology department of the EPS Mahdia for a period of nine years (2006–2014), then addressed to a psychiatric consultation for depression.

In total 17 patients were hospitalised in the neurology department during the study. Ages ranged from 20 to 39 years with an average of 33 years. The average course of the disorder is 5 years. We objectified a female predominance with 82%, a professional activity was found in 76% of patients. The comorbidities found are mainly hypertension, diabetes and asthma, respectively in 11%, 5% and 5%. Depression was clinically confirmed in 9 patients, that to say, 52% of our sample addressed in the psychiatric consultation, whose 6 received an antidepressant (fluoxetine) and 3 received paroxetine. An anxiolytic was given to the half of these patients.

The association between MS and depression would, therefore, be neither fortuitous nor only related to non-specific factors of any chronic disease. Specifying the relative share of these explanatory factors is probably one of the challenges for future researches in this area.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.