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To reveal the relationship between depression and WMSD.
Five physiatrists participated in the workplace musculoskeletal survey and diagnosed 724 office workers with WMSD by performing detailed history taking and physical examination. All subjects were asked to answer the Korean version of the Beck depressive inventory (K-BDI), and to express their pain according to the visual analogue scale (VAS) score. We categorized the subjects into 4 groups, myofascial pain syndrome (MPS), herniated intervertebral disk (HIVD), tenosynovitis, and others, and investigated the prevalence of depression in desk workers and relationship between WMSD and depression, and we compared pain intensity between the depression and non-depression groups. Correlation analysis was carried out between K-BDI and VAS scores in each group.
The mean K-BDI score were 8.7±6.68. The prevalence of depression was higher in females than in male, and there was no relationship between age and depression. There was a significant connection between HIVD and depression (p<0.05). However, the other groups did not have significant connection to depression. The VAS score (5.02) of the depression group was significantly higher than that (4.10) of the non-depression group. In addition, there was a significant difference of VAS scores between the depression group and non-depression group in each disease group.
The mean VAS score of the depression group in WMSD was significantly higher than in the non-depression group. The correlation between BDI and VAS scores in the subjects was present, and the highest was in the HIVD group.
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To evaluate the prevalence and risk factors of peripheral neuropathy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with leflunomide (LEF) by quantitative sensory testing (QST).
A total of 94 patients were enrolledin this study, out of which 47 patients received LEF. The other 47 patients received alternative disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs and served as the control group. The demographic characteristics, laboratory findings, concomitant diseases, and medication history were evaluated at the time of QST. The cooling (CDT) and vibratory detection threshold (VDT) as the representative components of QST were measured.
Age, gender, RA duration, ESR, and CRP did not show any significant differences between the two groups. VDT did not demonstrate any significant difference in both groups. However, CDT in LEF group was significantly higher than that of the control group (8.6±2.7 in LEF vs. 5.6±3.8 in control). The proportion of RA patients in the LEF group showing abnormally high CDT was over 2 times greater than that of the control group, but these findings were not statistically significant. Age, RA duration (or LEF medication in LEF group), ESR, and CRP did not show significant correlation with CDT in both groups. VDT significantly correlated with age in both groups.
LEF treatment in patients with RA may lead to abnormal CDT in QST. CDT value was not affected by age, RA duration, disease activity, or LEF duration. It remains to be determined whether QST may be a valuable non-invasive instrument to evaluate the early sensory changes in patients with RA taking LEF.
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