Quality of life and anxiety and depression symptoms in elderly females with and without chronic musculoskeletal pain

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Several studies look for an isolated relationship between anxiety, depression and quality of life and musculoskeletal pain in the elderly population. However, there are few studies comparing such variables among individuals with and without chronic musculoskeletal pain. This study aimed at evaluating anxiety and depression symptoms levels and quality of life in elderly females with and without chronic musculoskeletal pain. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study carried out with females aged 60 years or above, participants of mothers' clubs of the city of Caxias do Sul/RS. Participants were divided in two groups; group G1 (with chronic musculoskeletal pain) and group G2 (without pain). Beck Anxiety Inventory was used to evaluate anxiety symptoms, Beck II Depression Inventory was used to evaluate depression symptoms and WHOQOL-bref was used to evaluate quality of life. RESULTS: Participated in the study 178 elderly females and four were excluded for not meeting all inclusion criteria. From remaining 174, 95 were included in G1 and 79 in G2. G1 has presented higher anxiety (p<0.001) and depression (p<0.001) symptoms levels and worse quality of life (p<0.05) as compared to G2. CONCLUSION: Chronic musculoskeletal pain is frequent in the elderly population and is associated to higher incidence of depressive and anxious symptoms, in addition to negatively affecting quality of life.