title: Correlation of low back pain caused by lumbar spinal stenosis and depression in women: a clinical study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Low back pain (LBP) due to spinal stenosis may be one of the most debilitating symptoms to decrease the quality of life. The cause and effect association of LBP and depression is vague. Pain may also be a somatization symptom of depression. This is more frequent in the female population. This clinical study was designed to evaluate the correlation between the level of back pain caused by lumbar spinal stenosis and depression in the female population.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included 50 consecutive female patients with spinal stenosis. The stenosis diagnosis is made by neurological examination and neuro-imaging. The study group was psychiatrically evaluated and grouped as those with and without depression. Visual analog scale (VAS), Oswestry disability index (ODI) and Hamilton Depression Scale (HDS) were utilized in initial evaluation of the group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-one patients with lumbar spinal stenosis had depression (DLS Group) and 29 did not (LSS Group). Mean HDS scores were 8.97 and 32.48 for Group LSS and Group DLS, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference between the VAS scores of the groups (the mean VAS scores were 5.6 and 7.6, for groups LSS and DLS, respectively). The mean ODI values for LSS (65.24 ± 4.58) and DLS (75.1 ± 6.7) groups were also significantly different. In Group DLS, there were positive correlations between ODI and VAS with HDS (p < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings indicated a relationship between lumbar spinal stenosis associated pain levels and depression. However, the cause and result relationship still needs to be established yet.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Selcuk University Selcuklu Medical Faculty, Alaaddin Keykubat Kampüsü, Konya, Turkey. hulagukaptan@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Hulagu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kaptan
authors.forename: Esra Süer
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Yalçın
authors.forename: Omür
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kasımcan
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011581:Psychological Tests; D013130:Spinal Stenosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology