Abstract

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is the leading cause of disability in the world with a high prevalence of 64%- 89% in different age groups in Saudi Arabia, and depending on the severity, it could have a heavy impact on the quality of life. Thereby, this study aimed to estimate the prevalence of depression among LBP patients and to assess severity of depression in Taif city, Saudi Arabia.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 105 participants in Prince Mansour Military Hospital. Every patient with LBP who attended family clinic was included in the study and were asked to fill an Arabic version of the LBP Oswestry Disability Questionnaire (ODQ) and Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI) for assessing the depression.
Results: A total of 105 participants were included with an average age of 36.7 ± 12.2 years. Duration of LBP was from 4 to 12 weeks in 48.6% participants. The mean of BDI score was found to be 11.8 ± 10.8 with range of 0-48 out of a total score of 63. Around 58.1% had normal (BDI) score, whereas 14.3% had moderate depression. The mean of ODQ score was found to be 34.4 ± 16.6 out of a total score of 100. Almost 44.8% had moderate disability. Statistically significant association was found between duration of back pain and depression (p-value = 0.008).
Conclusion: The overall prevalence of depression among study participants was found to be 41.2%, whereas 15% had mild depression according to BDI score.

Key words: Prevalence, Depression, Low back pain