Cervical spondylotic myelopathy, depression, and anxiety: a cohort analysis of 89 patients.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of depressed and anxious mood states in patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM), a degenerative spine condition with symptoms of neck pain, numb clumsy hands, gait difficulties, sphincter dysfunction, and impotence. To examine the relation between mood and functional deficits produced by CSM.


METHODS
We surveyed a cohort of 89 patients with CSM recruited during 1 year from a neurosurgery clinic. Patients underwent a structured interview to collect information on demographics, personal habits, CSM symptoms, comorbid diseases, and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Patients self-completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale and were scored on the Nurick, Cooper, Harsh, and modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association (mJOA) scales.


RESULTS
According to the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale threshold value of 11, 29% of the cohort had a depressed mood and 38% had an anxious mood. Higher depression scores were associated with worse myelopathy, as measured by the Nurick scale (P = 0.01), the Cooper leg subscale (P = 0.006), the Harsh scale (P = 0.02), the mJOA arm subscale (P = 0.006), and the mJOA leg subscale (P = 0.004). There was no relation between depression scores and the Cooper arm subscale, Harsh sphincter scale, mJOA sensory subscale, or mJOA bladder subscale. Similar patterns were seen in the relations between myelopathy and anxiety.


CONCLUSIONS
More than one-third of patients with CSM have a depressed or anxious mood. In patients with CSM, depression and anxiety scores are strongly associated with decreased mobility, inconsistently associated with arm dysfunction, and not associated with sensory deficits or sphincter dysfunction, suggesting that ambulatory dysfunction may cause or exacerbate the symptoms of depression and anxiety in patients with CSM.
Stoffman
Michael R
MR
Department of Neurosurgery, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Roberts
Mark S
MS
King
Joseph T
JT
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003710:Demography; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013117:Spinal Cord Compression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013128:Spinal Osteophytosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric