Disability and depression in cervical radiculopathy patients: A pilot study

Abstract

Introduction: Disability has been known to cause depression in patients and has been proven in various studies. The present study was conducted to see if cervical radiculopathy patients also suffer with depression due to the disability associated with it.Materials and Methods: A total of thirty subjects were included in the present study and were explained about the neck disability index (NDI) and becks depression inventory (BDI) questionnaire and were asked to fill them. The research was done only on those subjects who were diagnosed with cervical radiculopathy.Results: A strong positive correlation (r = 0.57) was seen between neck disability and depression in cervical radiculopathy patients. The analysis was done separately for male and female, in both gender, the correlation became strong positive.Discussion: In the present study, strong positive correlation (r = 0.57) was seen between neck disability (measured using NDI) and depression (measured using BDI) in cervical radiculopathy patients indicating that disability results in depression.Conclusion: A positive correlation was observed in the present study between NDI and BDI scale in cervical radiculopathy patients. Hence, early medical and physiotherapy treatment care have to be taken in cervical radiculopathy patients to reduce neck disability, and the patients with cervical radiculopathy should be suggested counseling for depression as well.