To evaluate the impact of hospital rehabilitation on depression among patients with osteo articular diseases.
An ad hoc questionnaire designed by the authors were the Beck scale and Laitinen scale administered to 50 hospitalized patients with osteoarticular diseases before and after rehabilitation.
Symptoms of depression were found in 16 of the 50 patients (32%) on admission to the hospital compared to 8 (16%) after completing rehabilitation (Chi 2 = 4.08, p = 0.0433). The differences in the Beck scale for each of the respondents before and after physiotherapy were statistically significant (p <0.0001). We found a correlation between the occurrence of depression, and the presence of co-morbidities before and after rehabilitation (r = 0.29, r = 0.34). Before (r = 0.36, p = 0.0094) and after rehabilitation (r = 0.64, p <0.0001), symptoms of depression correlated with pain severity. 49 patients (98%), including all 16 with depression, complained of pain. Rehabilitation produced a reduction in pain frequency (p <0.0001), intensity (p <0.0001), medi cation use (p <0.0001) and movement limitation (p = 0.0004).
1. Patient age, osteoarticular diseases and comorbidities correlated positively with symptoms of depression. 2. Hospital-based rehabilitation of patients with osteoarticular diseases had a significant impact on reducing the incidence and severity of pain and reducing the consumption of analgesics. 3. Hospital rehabilitation helps eliminate or reduce the severity of symptoms of depression and markedly improves patients' daily functioning.