title: Depression among chronic pain patients at Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah, Klang.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite the high prevalence rates of depression amongst chronic pain patients reported globally, the condition is often under-recognised and under-treated. Depression frequently complicates the effective management of pain and is associated with poor quality of life. This study aimed to explore the incidence of depression and its' associated factors in a sample of chronic pain patients in Malaysia.
  
  
  METHODS
  This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted amongst clinically diagnosed chronic pain patients from the pain management clinic of Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah over a period of seven months. Socio-demographics and clinical data were obtained from patients' interview and medical records. The validated Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) was used for screening and Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) was used to establish the depression diagnoses among the patients. Numeric pain intensity scale was used to assess the severity of pain.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighty-three patients with a mean age of 50.4±12.50 years participated in this study. The majority of the patients were females (56.6%), married (85.5%) and being employed (49.4%). The percentage of depression was 37.4%. Depression was significantly associated with severity of pain (p<0.001) and the duration of pain (p <0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Almost one third of chronic pain patients in this study have depression. Depression was significantly associated with the severity and duration of pain. Depression should be regularly screened among patient with chronic pain.
authors.affiliation: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Department of Psychiatry, Jalan Yaacob Latif,Bandar Tun Razak, 56000 Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. seed_tabo@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: H F
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Seed
authors.affiliation: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Department of Psychiatry, Jalan Yaacob Latif,Bandar Tun Razak, 56000 Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hazli
authors.affiliation: Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah, Department ofnAnesthesiology and Intensive Care, Klang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Perumal
authors.affiliation: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Department of Psychiatry, Jalan Yaacob Latif,Bandar Tun Razak, 56000 Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Azlin