Quality of Life in Patients with Spinal Cord Injury: The Role of Depressed Mood

Background & Aim: Disabilities resulting from road accidents, especially spinal cord injury, which often occur in the early or middle ages of life, cause psychiatric symptoms and worsen the quality of life in these people. The present study aimed to determine the role of depressed mood in the quality of life of patients with spinal cord injury in Guilan Province (in the north of Iran). Methods & Materials/Patients: The present research was a cross-sectional, descriptive study. The statistical population included all patients in Spinal Cord Injury Association of Guilan Province, 97 of whom were selected as the sample based on convenience sampling method. The required data were collected using an author-made demographics questionnaire, the Spinal Cord Injury Quality-of-Life-23 questionnaire, and Beck Depression Inventory- Short Form. After removal of demographic confounders, Pearson correlation coefficient, independent student t-test, and hierarchical regression model were used for statistical analysis of the obtained data in SPSS. Results: Correlation coefficients showed that there is a significant and direct relationship between depressed mood and quality of life (P<0.0001). This means that the quality of life in spinal cord injury patients declines with the increase in depressed mood (higher scores in the Spinal Cord Injury Quality-of-Life-23 questionnaire imply the lower quality of life). Hierarchical regression analysis also indicated that, after the elimination of confounding variables (injury duration, gender, type of injury, having bedsore, and using catheter, nurse, diaper, and wheelchair), depressed mood led to predict 70% of the joint changes in quality of life score (F=23.77, P<0.0001). Conclusion: The study findings emphasize the prevention and treatment of depressed mood to improve the quality of life in patients with SCI.