Depression, pain and quality of life in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a cross-sectional study

Pizzimenti, Alessia and Aragona, Massimiliano and Onesti, Emanuela and Inghilleri, Maurizio (2013) Depression, pain and quality of life in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a cross-sectional study. Functional Neurology, 28 (2). pp. 115-119. ISSN 1971-3274

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Abstract

The complications related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) include pain. A higher risk of depression and a negative effect on quality of life (QoL) might be expected in ALS patients with pain. The aims of this study were to evaluate the prevalence of pain in ALS patients, to compare measures of depression and QoL in patients with and without pain, and to study the influence of depression scores and pain on the QoL of ALS patients with pain. Forty ALS patients were enrolled, and 36 were included in the analysis. Seventy-two percent of patients reported pain. Pain intensity was significantly related to a worsening of QoL (p<.05). This effect was no longer significant after considering depression scores as a covariate. Depression scores significantly decreased QoL (p<.02) and this effect remained significant after considering pain intensity as a covariate (p<.05). Our study suggests that pain is frequent in ALS patients and that depressive symptoms are significantly related to poorer QoL. Clinicians should pay more attention to both pain and depressive symptoms in ALS patients considering their effect on QoL.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, depression, pain, quality of life
Subjects: 600 Tecnologia - Scienze applicate > 610 Medicina e salute (Classificare qui la tecnologia dei servizi medici)
Depositing User: Marina Spanti
Date Deposited: 17 Dec 2015 14:39
Last Modified: 17 Dec 2015 14:39
URI: http://eprints.bice.rm.cnr.it/id/eprint/10843

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