The symptoms of pain and depression often present concomitantly, but little is known as to how the different subtypes of depression affect surgical outcome. The aim of this study was to determine whether there is a difference in outcome after lumbar spine surgery between non-depressed patients and patients with different subtypes of depressive symptoms: non-melancholic (NmDS) and melancholic depression (MDS).
This was a cross-sectional postal survey. A self-made questionnaire, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Oswestery Low Back Disability Questionnaire (ODI) were sent to patients who had undergone lumbar spine surgery in the Oulu University Hospital between June, 2005 and May, 2008. BDI=10 were further classified into NmDS or MDS.
A total of 537 patients (66%) completed the survey. Of these, 361 (67%) underwent disc surgery, 85 (16%) stabilizing surgery and 91 (17%) decompression. Participants were divided into three groups: BDI