OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association of depression, levels of pain and lack of social support in medical inpatients. METHODS: In a cross sectional observational study, 1,147 adults admitted to the general medical wards of a university hospital were randomized and evaluated during the first week of admission. The following instruments were used: cognitive-affective subscale of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-13), Charlson Comorbidity Index and numerical scales to evaluate pain and perception of medical burden. Patients who scored > 10 in the BDI-13 were considered depressed. Social support was investigated asking the following question: "How many relatives or friends do you feel at easy and can talk about almost everything?". Those who had less than four relatives or close friends were considered as having lack of social support. The Student T test, Chi-square test and Logistic Regression analysis were used. RESULTS: Of the 1,147 patients that comprised the sample, 25.3% had depression. Educational level [odds ratio (OR): 0.96; confidence interval (CI): 0.89-0.96; p < 0.001], household income (OR: 0.92; CI: 0.86-0.99; p = 0.018), pain levels (OR: 1.04; CI: 1.00-1.08; p = 0.036), lack of social support (OR: 2.02; CI: 1.49-2.72; p < 0.001) and perception worse physical illness severity (OR: 1.07; CI: 1.02-1.13; p = 0.008) were independently associated with depression. CONCLUSION: Depressive medical inpatients report more lack of social support and pain even after controlling for social, demographic and clinical variables.
Depression; pain; social support; medical inpatients; general hospital
