Predictors of Comorbid Depression in Iranian Patients With Knee Osteoarthritis

The correlation between depression and pain is reported in several chronic diseases including osteoarthritis (OA). This depression could lead to more pain perception and is considered as one of the confounding factors of the association between radiographic symptoms and the pain level in patients with OA.
Assessment of comorbid depression and its predictors could significantly improve assessment and management of the OA. The current study aimed to evaluate the association between depression and pain in patients with OA and explore the determinants of this depression in Iranian population with OA, as well.
The study evaluated the clinico-socio-demographic predictors of depression in 100 patients with OA. Depression was recorded using Beck depression inventory-II (BDI-II) and pain was measured by self-reporting visual analogue scale (VAS).
Depression score was significantly higher in younger (P = 0.04), unmarried (P = 0.01), physically inactive (P = 0.03) and patients with higher grade of OA (P = 0.02). In addition, a significant correlation was observed between comorbid depression and pain (r = 0.381, P = 0.008, 95% confidence interval), OA grade (r = 0.332, P = 0.009, 95% CI) and age (r = -0.259, P = 0.024, 95% CI).
Given the confounding role of comorbid depression in the assessment and management of OA, and the high prevalence of depression in patients with OA, the predictors of comorbid depression in these patients should be considered to improve the outcome of therapeutic interventions.