Prevalence of mood disturbance in Australian adults with chronic spinal cord injury

• Published in: Internal medicine journal Vol. 45; no. 10; pp. 1014 - 1019
• Main Authors: Migliorini, C., Sinclair, A., Brown, D., Tonge, B., New, P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Australia Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.10.2015
• Subjects: Affective Disorders, Psychotic - diagnosis; Affective Disorders, Psychotic - epidemiology; Aged; Anxiety - epidemiology; Australia - epidemiology; Depression - epidemiology; Female; health survey; Humans; Male; Mental Health; Middle Aged; mood disorder; morbidity; prevalence; Prospective Studies; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Severity of Illness Index; Spinal Cord Injuries - complications; Spinal Cord Injuries - psychology; spinal cord injury; Stress, Psychological - epidemiology; Australia; spinal cord injury; prevalence; mood disorder; morbidity; health survey
• ISSN: 1444-0903; 1445-5994
• DOI: 10.1111/imj.12825

Background There is little understanding of the prevalence of mental health issues in people with spinal cord injury (SCI) after they leave rehabilitation or how mental health issues can alter over time. Aim The aims were to (i) determine the prevalence of mood disturbance in adults with chronic SCI living in the community, (ii) ascertain whether the prevalence of mood disturbance had changed since a previous study in 2004–2005 and (iii) establish whether people with chronic SCI remain vulnerable to mood disturbance, irrespective of time since injury. Methods Prospective, open‐cohort case series. Participants were 573 community‐based adults with a chronic SCI. The depression, anxiety and stress scale – short version was used. Analyses included simple descriptors, Chi‐squared and repeated measures t‐tests. Results Nearly half of participants (n = 263/573; 46%) reported symptoms indicating mood disturbance, which was similar to the level found in the previous study. While the presence of mood disturbance persisted in 23% of adults (n = 26) and 46 (41%) were in the ‘below threshold’ category, just over a third of the adults who participated in both studies (n = 111) experienced a change (n = 21, 19% mood disturbance resolved and n = 18, 16% mood disturbance developed). Conclusion Both resilience and change are common. At no time after SCI is the risk of mental health problems considered reduced or even stable. These results highlight the importance of regular mental health reviews even in those who have previously displayed good resilience.