Aims. Paediatric fractures are highly prevalent and are most often treated with plaster. The application and removal of plaster is often an anxiety-inducing experience for children. Decreasing the anxiety level may improve the patients’ satisfaction and the quality of healthcare. Virtual reality (VR) has proven to effectively distract children and reduce their anxiety in other clinical settings, and it seems to have a similar effect during plaster treatment. This study aims to further investigate the effect of VR on the anxiety level of children with fractures who undergo plaster removal or replacement in the plaster room. Methods. A randomized controlled trial was conducted. A total of 255 patients were included, aged five to 17 years, who needed plaster treatment for a fracture of the upper or lower limb. Randomization was stratified for age (five to 11 and 12 to 17 years). The intervention group was distracted with VR goggles and headphones during the plaster treatment, whereas the control group received standard care. As the primary outcome, the post-procedural level of anxiety was measured with the Child Fear Scale (CFS). Secondary outcomes included the children’s anxiety reduction (difference between CFS after and CFS before plaster procedure), numerical rating scale (NRS) pain, NRS satisfaction of the children and accompanying parents/guardians, and the children’s heart rates during the procedure. An independent-samples t-test and Mann-Whitney U test (depending on the data distribution) were used to analyze the data. Results. The post-procedural CFS was significantly lower (p < 0.001) in the intervention group (proportion of children with no anxiety = 78.6%) than in the control group (56.8%). The anxiety reduction, NRS pain and satisfaction scores, and heart rates showed no significant differences between the control group and the intervention group. Subanalyses showed an increased effect of VR on anxiety levels in young patients, females, upper limb fractures, and those who had had previous plaster treatment. Conclusion. VR effectively reduces the anxiety levels of children in the plaster room, especially in young girls. No statistically significant effects were seen regarding pain, heart rate, or satisfaction scores. Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2024;106-B(7):728–734

Aims. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of depressive and anxiety disorders prior to total hip (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and to assess their impact on the rates of any infection, revision, or reoperation. Methods. Between January 2000 and March 2019, 21,469 primary and revision arthroplasties (10,011 THAs; 11,458 TKAs), which were undertaken in 15,504 patients at a single academic medical centre, were identified from a 27-county linked electronic medical record (EMR) system. Depressive and anxiety disorders were identified by diagnoses in the EMR or by using a natural language processing program with subsequent validation from review of the medical records. Patients with mental health diagnoses other than anxiety or depression were excluded. Results. Depressive and/or anxiety disorders were common before THA and TKA, with a prevalence of 30% in those who underwent primary THA, 33% in those who underwent revision THA, 32% in those who underwent primary TKA, and 35% in those who underwent revision TKA. The presence of depressive or anxiety disorders was associated with a significantly increased risk of any infection (primary THA, hazard ratio (HR) 1.5; revision THA, HR 1.9; primary TKA, HR 1.6; revision TKA, HR 1.8), revision (THA, HR 1.7; TKA, HR 1.6), re-revision (THA, HR 2.0; TKA, HR 1.6), and reoperation (primary THA, HR 1.6; revision THA, HR 2.2; primary TKA, HR 1.4; revision TKA, HR 1.9; p < 0.03 for all). Patients with preoperative depressive and/or anxiety disorders were significantly less likely to report “much better” joint function after primary THA (78% vs 87%) and primary TKA (86% vs 90%) compared with those without these disorders at two years postoperatively (p < 0.001 for all). Conclusion. The presence of depressive or anxiety disorders prior to primary or revision THA and TKA is common, and associated with a significantly higher risk of infection, revision, reoperation, and dissatisfaction. This topic deserves further study, and surgeons may consider mental health optimization to be of similar importance to preoperative variables such as diabetic control, prior to arthroplasty. Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2023;105-B(5):526–533

Aims. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms in patients undergoing shoulder surgery using the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Depression and Anxiety computer adaptive tests, and to determine the factors associated with more severe symptoms. Additionally, we sought to determine whether PROMIS Depression and Anxiety were associated with functional outcomes after shoulder surgery. Methods. This was a retrospective analysis of 293 patients from an urban population who underwent elective shoulder surgery from 2015 to 2018. Survey questionnaires included preoperative and two-year postoperative data. Bivariate analysis was used to identify associations and multivariable analysis was used to control for confounding variables. Results. Mean two-year PROMIS Depression and Anxiety scores significantly improved from preoperative scores, with a greater improvement observed in PROMIS Anxiety. Worse PROMIS Depression and Anxiety scores were also significantly correlated with worse PROMIS Physical Function (PF) and American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons scores (ASES). After controlling for confounding variables, worse PROMIS Depression was an independent predictor of worse PROMIS PF, while worse PROMIS Anxiety was an independent predictor of worse PROMIS PF and ASES scores. Conclusion. Mean two-year PROMIS Depression and Anxiety scores improved after elective shoulder surgery and several patient characteristics were associated with these scores. Worse functional outcomes were associated with worse PROMIS Depression and Anxiety; however, more severe two-year PROMIS Anxiety was the strongest predictor of worse functional outcomes. Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2022;104-B(4):479–485

Aims. Psychological factors play a critical role in patient presentation, satisfaction, and outcomes. Pain catastrophizing, anxiety, and depression are important to consider, as they are associated with poorer outcomes and are potentially modifiable. The aim of this study was to assess the level of pain catastrophizing, anxiety, and depression in patients with a range of hip pathology and to evaluate their relationship with patient-reported psychosocial and functional outcome measures. Patients and Methods. Patients presenting to a tertiary-centre specialist hip clinic were prospectively evaluated for outcomes of pain catastrophizing, anxiety, and depression. Validated assessments were undertaken such as: the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS), and the 12-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12). Patient characteristics and demographics were also recorded. Multiple linear regression modelling, with adaptive least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) variable selection, was used for analysis. Results. A total of 328 patients were identified for inclusion, with diagnoses of hip dysplasia (DDH; n = 50), femoroacetabular impingement (FAI; n = 55), lateral trochanteric pain syndrome (LTP; n = 23), hip osteoarthrosis (OA; n = 184), and avascular necrosis of the hip (AVN; n = 16) with a mean age of 31.0 years (14 to 65), 38.5 years (18 to 64), 63.7 years (20 to 78), 63.5 years (18 to 91), and 39.4 years (18 to 71), respectively. The percentage of patients with abnormal levels of pain catastrophizing, anxiety, or depression was: 22.0%, 16.0%, and 12.0% for DDH, respectively; 9.1%, 10.9%, and 7.3% for FAI, respectively; 13.0%, 4.3%, and 4.3% for LTP, respectively; 21.7%, 11.4%, and 14.1% for OA, respectively; and 25.0%, 43.8%, and 6.3% for AVN, respectively. HADS Anxiety (HADSA) and Hip Disability Osteoarthritis Outcome Score Activities of Daily Living subscale (HOOS ADL) predicted the PCS total (adjusted R. 2. = 0.4599). Age, HADS Depression (HADSD), and PCS total predicted HADSA (adjusted R. 2. = 0.4985). Age, HADSA, patient’s percentage of perceived function, PCS total, and HOOS Quality of Life subscale (HOOS QOL) predicted HADSD (adjusted R. 2. = 0.5802). Conclusion. Patients with hip pathology may exhibit significant pain catastrophizing, anxiety, and depression. Identifying these factors and understanding the impact of psychosocial function could help improve patient treatment outcomes. Perioperative multidisciplinary assessment may be a beneficial part of comprehensive orthopaedic hip care. Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2019;101-B:800–807

Introduction. Previous studies have shown the potential for virtual reality (VR) immersion as a promising technique for pain and anxiety management. The aim of our study was to evaluate the feasibility of VR in the management of pain and anxiety during post-op external fixator care procedures. Method. This study involved patients aged 5-21 years following limb lengthening/reconstruction surgery with an external fixator. Aqua VR application from the KindVR® was utilized for this study. Subjects were seen during the first four postoperative visits and assigned to a ‘VR-first’ or ‘no-VR-first’ group. Visits alternated between VR immersion and no VR immersion during care procedures. The study endpoints (pain and anxiety levels) were assessed before, during, and after procedures using the Wong-Baker Faces (FACES) and Children's Fear Scale, respectively. Proxy scores for pain and anxiety were also obtained from parents or legal guardians and providers. Result. A total of 29 patients (16 male and 13 female) were evaluated. The mean age at enrollment was 14.4 ± 2.2 years for group 1 and 14.7 ± 4.0 years for group 2. The median number of pin sites was 7. Anxiety scores were consistently higher during the non-VR immersion experience compared to the VR immersion visits. The pain and anxiety scores were significantly lower in the ‘VR-first’ group during the non-VR immersion study visits compared to patients in the ‘no-VR-first’ group. This observation was also consistent with survey findings among the parent proxies and providers. Conclusion. VR immersion is associated with lower anxiety scores for pin-site care procedures. VR immersion at the first post-operative visit following limb reconstruction surgery was also associated with lower pain and anxiety scores during subsequent non-VR immersion visits

Abstract. Introduction. Anxiety and depression are risk factors for poor outcome following knee replacement surgery. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of anxiety and depression before and after primary (pKR) and revision knee replacement (rKR). Methodology. Retrospective cohort study. 315,720 pKR and 12,727 rKR recruited from the NHS Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) programme from 2013–2021. Anxiety and depression were defined using: (i) Survey question: “Have you been told by a doctor that you have depression? Yes/No”; (ii) EQ-5D anxiety/depression domain. Rates of EQ-5D anxiety/depression were investigated at baseline and at 6-months following surgery. The prevalence of depression was investigated by patient age and gender. Results. Overall, 28,434/315,720 (9.0%) pKR and 1,536/12,727 (12.0%) rKR reported pre-operative depression. For all age groups, depression was more common in female than male patients. Prevalence of depression reduced with age (<60 years: 16.8% pKR, 22.7% rKR; 80+ years: 5.3% pKR, 5.2% rKR). Depression was most prevalent in female patients, under 60 years undergoing rKR (25.6%). Pre-operation, 109,000/303,998 (35.9%) pKR and 5,433/12,216 rKR (44.5%) reported moderate or extreme EQ-5D anxiety/depression. Post-operation, 65,351/308,914 (21.2%) pKR and 4,176/12,409 rKR (33.7%) reported moderate or extreme EQ-5D anxiety/depression. Conclusion. Anxiety and depression were prevalent in patients undergoing knee replacement surgery. Patients undergoing revision procedures, female patients and younger patients had the highest rates of depression. Large improvements in anxiety/depression were observed at early follow-up after pKR and rKR

Introduction. Patients undergoing TJA have higher rates of anxiety and/or depression than the general population and higher costs of care. These preoperative diagnoses lead to higher levels of postoperative dissatisfaction and depression patients alone have higher readmission rates. There is significant crossover between anxiety and depressive disorders, and many patients are classed as combined. Our goal was to evaluate readmission rates of patients undergoing total hip or knee arthroplasty with diagnoses of anxiety, depression or both. Methods. Our hospital's prospectively collected data from our statewide total joint database (MARCQI) was reviewed from 2013–2018. Rates of anxiety and/or depression were determined based preoperative anxiolytic or antidepressant medications using national drug codes. Independent sample t-tests compared continuous variables and Chi-square tests (or Fisher's exact tests) compared categorical variables. Potential risk factors were identified by multivariable logistic regression modeling. Results. 4,107 cases (1,261 THA and 2,846 TKA) were included. 176 patients (4.28%) had a readmission within the 90-day global period. 476 patients (12%) had history of depression or anxiety or both. For the entire cohort, those on anxiolytic medication were 153% more likely to be readmitted than those not on medication (p=0.017). When patients were stratified based on THA or TKA, patients taking anxiolytic medication undergoing TKA were 120% more likely to undergo readmission within 90 days (p=0.021). Patients on depression medication alone were not at increased risk of readmission in the TKA cohort (p=0.991). For THA patients neither diagnosis appeared a risk factor for readmission (p=0.852). Conclusions. Patients with depression, anxiety, or both undergoing TKA were at a statistically significant risk of readmission within 90-days compared to patients without these diagnoses. Anxiety and depression were both risk factors for readmission, but anxiety appeared to have a more significant impact. THA on the other hand did not appear to share this risk profile

Previous studies revealed the close relation of anxiety and low back pain. Among people with chronic low back pain, anxiety is the most commonly reported mental disorder. Thus, in the literature, there are several studies considering the anxiety as a risk factor for chronic low back pain. The authors also documented a significant differences between sexes in anxiety and quality of life due to low back pain. US National Institute of Mental Health reports that the lifetime prevalence of an anxiety disorder is 60 % higher in women than in men and that the onset, severity, clinical course, and treatment response of anxiety disorders differ significantly in women. In addition, literature has showed that women may have a worse quality of life when they have low back pain. University students may undergo an undue amount of stress, with negative outcomes in terms of academic resuşts and personal, emotional or health, consequences. Moreover, stress can be experienced at different time periods, not only during university life, but also before, during the transition from undergraduate to professional level, and after, during the transition to the life work. After all these literature knowledge, we designed the study to compare the anxiety and quality of life levels of female and male specifically university students with low back pain aged between 18–26. In this study, 100 female and male university students with low back pain aged between 18–26 were included. The low back pain level were measured by Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and the disability level due to the pain was measured by Revised Oswestry Low Back Pain Disability Questionnaire (ODI). Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) was used to evaluate the anxiety level and also, Short Form 36 survey (SF-36) was used to understand the quality of life for subjects. These questionnaires were asked to participants on online platform via Google Forms between March 2020 and May 2020. SPSS Version 25.0 program was used for statistical analyses. The result of the study showed that there was a statistically significant difference between female and male students on anxiety levels (p<0.05). There were no statistically differences between female and male students on ODI and VAS (p>0.05). In female group, BAI and “Physical function” and “General Health” subgroups of SF-36 have negative correlations (p<0.05). When we correlated BAI and all subgroups of SF-36 in male group, the statistical results were showed that negative correlation with all subgroups (p<0.05) except “Energy and Fatigue” subgroup (p>0.05). We conclude that female university students with low back pain have higher anxiety levels than male students. Future studies can work on young students to cope with the psychological problems for well-being

Aims. Psychoeducative prehabilitation to optimize surgical outcomes is relatively novel in spinal fusion surgery and, like most rehabilitation treatments, they are rarely well specified. Spinal fusion patients experience anxieties perioperatively about pain and immobility, which might prolong hospital length of stay (LOS). The aim of this prospective cohort study was to determine if a Preoperative Spinal Education (POSE) programme, specified using the Rehabilitation Treatment Specification System (RTSS) and designed to normalize expectations and reduce anxieties, was safe and reduced LOS. Methods. POSE was offered to 150 prospective patients over ten months (December 2018 to November 2019) Some chose to attend (Attend-POSE) and some did not attend (DNA-POSE). A third independent retrospective group of 150 patients (mean age 57.9 years (SD 14.8), 50.6% female) received surgery prior to POSE (pre-POSE). POSE consisted of an in-person 60-minute education with accompanying literature, specified using the RTSS as psychoeducative treatment components designed to optimize cognitive/affective representations of thoughts/feelings, and normalize anxieties about surgery and its aftermath. Across-group age, sex, median LOS, perioperative complications, and readmission rates were assessed using appropriate statistical tests. Results. In all, 65 (43%) patients (mean age 57.4 years (SD 18.2), 58.8% female) comprised the Attend-POSE, and 85 (57%) DNA-POSE (mean age 54.9 years (SD 15.8), 65.8% female). There were no significant between-group differences in age, sex, surgery type, complications, or readmission rates. Median LOS was statistically different across Pre-POSE (5 days ((interquartile range (IQR) 3 to 7)), Attend-POSE (3 (2 to 5)), and DNA-POSE (4 (3 to 7)), (p = 0.014). Pairwise comparisons showed statistically significant differences between Pre-POSE and Attend-POSE LOS (p = 0.011), but not between any other group comparison. In the Attend-POSE group, there was significant change toward greater surgical preparation, procedural familiarity, and less anxiety. Conclusion. POSE was associated with a significant reduction in LOS for patients undergoing spinal fusion surgery. Patients reported being better prepared for, more familiar, and less anxious about their surgery. POSE did not affect complication or readmission rates, meaning its inclusion was safe. However, uptake (43%) was disappointing and future work should explore potential barriers and challenges to attending POSE. Cite this article: Bone Jt Open 2022;3(2):135–144

The relationship between pain catastrophizing and emotional disorders including anxiety and depression in patients with hip or knee osteoarthritis undergoing total joint replacement (TJR) is an emerging area of study. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between catastrophizing, anxiety, depression and postoperative pain and functional outcomes following primary TJR. A prospective cohort study of preoperative TJR patients at one academic arthroplasty centre over a one-year period was conducted. Pain catastrophizing was assessed using the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), and anxiety/depression using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-A, HADS-D) at preoperative assessment. Postoperative outcomes at one-year included patient perceived level of hip/knee pain using a visual analogue scale (VAS), subjective perception of function using the Oxford Hip/Knee Scores, and objective function using the Knee Society Score (KSS) and Harris Hip scores (HHS). Median regression was used to assess pattern of relationship between preoperative PCS clinically relevant catastrophizing (CRC), abnormal HADS-A, abnormal HADS-D and postoperative outcomes at one-year. Median difference and 95% confidence interval (CI) were reported. T-tests were performed to determine mean differences in postoperative outcomes among patients with PCS CRC, abnormal HADS-A, and abnormal HADS-D scores versus those with normal scores at preoperative assessment. P-values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. The sample included 463 TJR patients (178 hips, 285 knees). Both the PCS-rumination CRC sub-domain (median difference 1, 95% CI 0.31–1.69, p=0.005) and abnormal HADS-A (median difference 1, 95% CI 0.36–1.64, p=0.002) were identified as significant predictors of one-year VAS pain. PCS-magnification CRC sub-domain was also identified as a significant predictor of KSS/HHS at one-year (median difference 1.3, 95% CI −5.23–0.11, p=0.041). Preoperative VAS pain, Oxford and HHS/KSS scores were significantly inferior in patients who had CRC PCS, abnormal HADS-A, and abnormal HADS-D scores compared to patients with normal scores. At one-year, PCS CRC patients also had significantly inferior VAS pain (p=0.001), Oxford (p < 0 .0001) and KSS/HHS (p=0.025). Abnormal HADS-A and HADS-D patients experienced significantly inferior postoperative VAS pain (HADS-A p=0.025, HADS-D p=0.030), Oxford (HADS-A p=0.001, HADS-D p=0.030), but no difference in KSS/HHS (HADS-A = 0.069, HADS-D = 0.071) compared to patients with normal PCS/HADS scores. However, patients with CRC PCS experienced significantly greater improvement in preoperative to postoperative VAS pain (p < 0 .0001), Oxford (p=0.003) and HHS/KSS (p < 0 .0001). Similarly, patients with abnormal HADS scores showed significant improvement in preoperative to one-year postoperative change scores, as compared to normal patients in VAS pain (HADS-A p=0.011, HADS-D p=0.024), KSS/HHS (HADS-A p=0.017, HADS-D p=0.031), but not Oxford (HADS-A p=0.299, HADS-D p=0.558). Patients who are anxious, depressed or who pain catastrophize have worse preoperative function and pain. Postoperatively, pain and functional outcomes are also inferior in such patients, however they do experience a significantly greater improvement in outcomes. Furthermore, it appears that rumination and anxiety traits predict pain levels postoperatively. Although these patients report higher levels of pain postoperatively, as compared to preoperative, great improvement can be expected following hip and knee TJR

The relationship between pain catastrophising and emotional disorders including anxiety and depression in patients with osteoarthritis (OA) undergoing total joint replacement (TJR) is an emerging area of study. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between pain catastrophising, anxiety, depression and preoperative patient characteristics. A prospective cohort study of preoperative TJR patients at one centre over 12-months was conducted. We examined association between catastrophising, anxiety, depression and preoperative patient characteristics including demographics, pain and function. Pain catastrophising was assessed using the Pain Catastrophising Scale (PCS), and anxiety/depression using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-A, HADS-D). Patient perceived level of hip/knee pain was measured using a visual analogue (VAS) pain scale. Patient perception of function was measured using the Oxford Score. Preoperative radiographic grading of OA was determined using the Kellgren and Lawrence (K-L) scale. Logistic regression was used to assess pattern of relationship between preoperative characteristics and PCS or HADS. Adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were reported. A secondary quantile regression analysis examined whether a model not restricted to pre-defined PCS and HADS categories would yield comparable results to the logistic regression model described in the primary analysis. P-values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. The sample included 463 TJR patients (178 hips, 285 knees). VAS pain (OR 1.23,95%CI 1.04–1.45) and Oxford score (OR 1.13,95%CI 1.07–1.20) were identified as significant predictors for PCS. The same two variables were the strong predictors for all sub-domains of PCS excluding rumination. Oxford Score was the only significant predictor for abnormal HADS-A (OR 1.10,95%CI 1.04–1.17) while VAS pain (OR 1.27,95%CI 1.02–1.52) and Oxford (OR 1.09,95%CI 1.01–1.17) were significant predictors for abnormal HADS-D. Similar pattern of association for PCS and HADS was observed in the quantile regression model, where larger VAS pain and Oxford scores significantly increased median PCS across all domains. Female gender, younger age or having a higher ASA grade were associated with higher median HADS-A, but unlike in the logistic regression, this association was statistically significant. Pain catastrophising and emotional disorders generally result in poor functional outcomes in TJR patients. The most important predictor of catastrophising, anxiety/depression is pain and subjective function. At risk patients include those with high preoperative pain with generally good preoperative function, as well as younger females with significant comorbidities. Such patients should be identified, and targeted psychological therapy implemented preoperatively to optimise coping strategies and adaptive behaviour to mitigate inferior TJR outcomes including pain and patient dissatisfaction

Chronic pain and psychosocial distress are generally thought to be associated in chronic musculoskeletal disorders such as non-specific neck pain. However, it is unclear whether a raised level of anxiety is necessarily a feature of longstanding, intense pain amongst patient and general population sub-groups. Post-hoc analysis. In a cohort of 70 self-selected female, non-specific neck pain sufferers, we observed relatively high levels of self-reported pain of 4.46 (measured on the 11 point numerical pain rating scale (NRS-101)) and a longstanding duration of symptoms (156 days/year). However, the mean anxiety scores observed (5.49), fell well below the clinically relevant threshold of 21 required by the Beck Anxiety Inventory. The cohort was stratified to further distinguish individuals with higher pain intensity (NRS>6) and longer symptom duration (>90 days). Although a highly statistically significant difference (p=0.000) was subsequently observed with respect to pain intensity, in the resulting sub-groups, none such a difference was noted with respect to anxiety levels. Our results indicate that chronic, intense pain and anxiety do not always appear to be related. Explanations for these findings may include that anxiety is not triggered in socially functional individuals, that individual coping strategies have come into play or in some instances that a psychological disorder like alexithymia could be a confounder. More studies are needed to clarify the specific role of anxiety in chronic non-specific musculoskeletal pain before general evidence-driven clinical extrapolations can be made

Purpose of the study and background. Although pain is usually described as a private experience, how pain is understood and responded to by others is important. A crucial feature of this process is empathy. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between empathy for pain and observers' health anxiety and fear of pain. The role of the observer's sex and age were also examined. Methods and results. In this study 159 participants (73 males, mean age=41, SD=19.6) were presented with 16 images of individuals in pain (8 female, 8 male), and subsequently rated their empathy towards them. Participants then completed the fear of pain and health anxiety measures. Both fear of pain and health anxiety were positively associated with empathy for pain, but in the regression model only fear of pain was a significant positive predictor of empathy for pain (p< .001). Further analysis revealed that when controlling for the effects of fear of pain, the correlation between health anxiety and empathy became non-significant. The same results were found when the overall empathy for pain score was split into empathy for male and female images. Observers' sex and age were not significant predictors of empathy for pain. Conclusion. The results highlight the role of fear of pain in empathy for pain, where more fearful observers had higher levels of empathy for pain. They support current theories of empathy and the role of the underlying top-down processes in decoding another's pain. Conflict of interest: None. Sources of funding: None

Approximately one-fifth of patients are not satisfied with total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Preoperative variables associated with poorer outcomes are severity and chronicity of pain and psychological disease, which may present as anxiety and depression. It is unclear whether this is constitutional or the result of knee pain. To address this, we explored the association of anxiety and depression with knee disability before and after TKA. Forty patients undergoing TKA completed Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Oxford Knee Scores (OKS) preoperatively and at three and six months postoperatively. Both were elevated preoperatively and improved significantly post-operatively (P<0.001). The severity of preoperative anxiety and depression was associated with worse knee disability (coefficient −0.409, p=0.009). Postoperatively reduction in anxiety and depression was associated with improvement in knee disability after three (coefficient −0.459, p=0.003) and six months (coefficient −0.428, p=0.006). The difficulty in interpreting preoperative anxiety and depression and the outcome of TKA is establishing whether they are the cause or effect of pain in the knee. As anxiety and depression improves with knee pain and function, this study suggests that knee pain contributes to the psychological symptoms and that a successful TKA offers an excellent chance of improving both

Purpose and background. There is lacking evidence about the prognostic role of anxiety as prognostic in acute low back pain patients. The objective of this study was to determine whether patients with acute low back pain (ALBP) are at risk to develop chronic low back pain (CLBP) and pain-related disability after 12 weeks due to high anxiety levels. Methods and results. An observational multi-centre study was conducted in primary physiotherapy care with measurements at baseline and at 12 weeks including known prognostic factors and psychological candidate predictors for CLBP. Two hundred and four participants completed both assessments of which 51 and 54 were classified as having less than 50% decrease in pain and pain-related disability, respectively. For pain, the final model contained higher pain intensity, longer pain duration, depression symptoms, and state anxiety with explained variance 0.30, sensitivity 0.74, specificity 0.82, Likelihood Ratio 4.1 (95% CI 2.0 to 6.1) and Area Under the Curve 0.78 (95% CI 0.70 to 0.85). For pain-related disability, trait anxiety, depression symptoms, and state anxiety contributed independently to the prediction with the model's explained variance of 0.19, sensitivity 0.78, specificity 0.78, Likelihood Ratio 3.0 (95% CI 2.0 to 4.5), and Area Under the Curve 0.73 (95% CI 0.65 to 0.81). Conclusion. State anxiety in patients with ALBP is an independent predictor of CLBP at 12 weeks after baseline in primary physiotherapy care and should be measured, in addition to known prognostic factors and depression symptoms, in order to intervene and potentially decrease duration of complaints. No conflict of interest. No funding obtained

Depression and anxiety are widely prevalent amongst patients suffering from chronic diseases including osteoarthritis. National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines recommend vigilance and routine screening in such chronic disease patients, and a recent King's Fund report found depression causes considerable expense to the NHS, with £1 for every £8 spent on chronic disease spent on patients mental health, costing between £8-13 billion annually. Depression increases length of hospital stay, and poorer clinical outcomes: depressed patients are 3.5 x as likely to die after suffering from myocardial infarction. Despite this, depression screening is not performed widely pre operatively. To see if there is a basis to recommend routine pre operative depression screening in hip and knee arthroplasty patients, we asked all patients attending Joint School to complete a Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). This is a well-validated tool for assessing the presence and degree (either mild, moderate or severe if present) of anxiety and depression, using fourteen questions, and providing a score out of 21 for each. We then correlated these results to pre operative Oxford Knee and Oxford Hip Scores to see if there was any relationship between the extent of impact of disease and any mood disorder present. 190 patients completed the questionnaire pre operatively. Of those, 82 (43%) scored as anxious. 73 (38%) scored as depressed. 47 (25%) scored as both. Overall 107 (56%) were either anxious, depressed or both. The median anxiety score was 7, with 44 (54%) scoring 8–10 (mild), 35 (43%) 11–15 (moderate) and 3 (4%) 16+ (severe). The median depression score was 6, with 53 (73%) scoring 8–10 (mild), 19 (26%) 11–15 (moderate) and 1 (1%) 16+ (severe). In order to look for an association between the severity of depression or anxiety and Oxford Scores, we grouped the Oxford Scores according to the patient's score on the HADS, and performed analysis of variance (ANOVA) to look for a significant difference between the Oxford Scores in the groups. There was no significant link between increase in Oxford Score and anxiety score (p=0.173314) but there was between Oxford Score and depression score (p=0.001377). There was equally no correlation between scores in patients classified simply as anxious or not anxious (p=0.14918) but a significant difference in Oxford Score was present between patients designated as depressed or not depressed (p=0.000297). We thus conclude depression and anxiety are very common amongst pre operative arthroplasty patients and thus assessment for this should be considered routinely preoperatively. In addition, there is a link between severity of osteoarthritis and severity of depression with increasing depression score associated with increasing Oxford Score. This makes further work to assess the reasons for this link imperative: does increasing severity of osteoarthritis result in increasing severity of depression, or does depression cause patients to feel the effects of their disease more keenly, and thus score higher on Oxford Scores? If this is the case, would patients treated for depression find the effect of their joint problems severe enough to warrant undertaking arthroplasty surgery?

Aims: Traditionally in surgery, and this is especially true in orthopaedic foot surgery, is not paid much attention to patient’s emotions, not considering how specific personality traits could affect pre and post surgical management. Following the guidelines of WHO about the treatment of pain and in order to optimize the clinical management of patients who complain of painful foot disorders such as hallux valgus, we studied the relation between level of anxiety, perception of pain and memory pain before and after the surgical procedure. Methods: In the period 2000 and 2004 we studied 88 patients who were treated with distal metatarsal osteotomy for correction of hallux valgus. In order to evaluate anxiety trait level we selected one of the most frequently employed tests in clinical medicine (S.T.A.I. Y2). To quantify the amount of pain, due to such pathology in the pre and post surgical period, FFI test (visual analogous) and a questionnaire on pain memory, were employed. Pain was studied longitudinally, in the following steps: presurgery, immediately postsurgery, daily in the first four days, and at one and two weeks interval after the procedure. The use of analgesic drugs in the first two weeks was recorded. Two years later the same patient were recalled in order to collect data related to the clinical outcome and pain memory persistence. Results: A subgroup of 33 patients showed an high anxiety trait level (score > 43), the remaining 50 patients had a score in the normal range. The statistical analysis of the data shows a direct correlation between anxiety level and pain perception in the pre surgical period. Furthermore, patients with higher level of anxiety showed an increased use of analgesic drugs in the post surgical period (the higher dosage prescribed on demand). The unpleasant memory persistence is however mitigated in the same group, possibly due to much drug assumption. Conclusions: A correct management of patients with painful diseases candidated to surgical procedures should include a comprehensive psychological evaluation in order to identify their emotional state. Especially in clinical situations requiring bilateral surgical approaches is mandatory to avoid that pain could become a traumatic experience

We have had experience of an 18-month-old boy with a cardiomyopathy who died a few minutes after removal of his cast with a saw, apparently from a malignant cardiac arrhythmia triggered by anxiety. We therefore examined the anxiety reaction to this method of removal of a plaster cast in 20 healthy children; ten were provided with hearing protectors and ten were not. The level of anxiety was assessed by measuring the heart rate, a known physiological indicator of anxiety, before, during and five minutes after removal of the cast. The noise level was also measured. The results showed a mean increase in heart rate during the procedure of 27.9 beats per minute (bpm) (26.9%) in the children with no hearing protectors and 10.4 bpm (11.1%) in children who used hearing protectors (p < 0.001). Five minutes after the procedure the heart rate had returned to the baseline rate in all patients. We recommend that hearing protectors should be used in children undergoing removal of a plaster cast to decrease the anxiety reaction. If possible, clinicians should avoid the use of a saw for this purpose in children with a cardiomyopathy

Aims. The primary aim was to assess change in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients as they waited from six to 12 months for a total hip (THA) or total or partial knee arthroplasty (KA). Secondary aims were to assess change in joint-specific function, mental health, quality of sleep, number living in a state worse than death (WTD), wellbeing, and patient satisfaction with their healthcare. Methods. This prospective study included 142 patients awaiting a THA (mean age 66.7 years (SD 11.4); 71 female) and 214 patients awaiting KA (mean age 69.7 years (SD 8.7); 117 female). Patients completed questionnaires (EuroQol five-dimension health questionnaire (EQ-5D), Oxford Hip and Knee Scores (OHS/OKS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Score (HADS), University of California, Los Angeles Activity Scale, wellbeing assessment, and satisfaction with their healthcare) at six and 12 months while awaiting surgery. Results. There was a clinical and statistically significant deterioration in the EQ-5D while awaiting THA (mean change 0.071 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.018 to 0.124); p = 0.009) and KA (mean change 0.069 (95% CI 0.032 to 0.106); p < 0.001). For patients awaiting a THA, there were deteriorations in OHS (p = 0.003), PSQI (p = 0.008), both HADS depression (p = 0.001) and anxiety (p = 0.002), and an increased prevalence in those in a state WTD (p = 0.010). For those awaiting KA, there were significant deteriorations in OKS (p < 0.001), UCLA (p = 0.001), and HADS depression (p < 0.001) and anxiety (p < 0.001). There were significant decreases in wellbeing (satisfaction with life, feeling life to be worthwhile, and happiness) and increases in anxiety for those awaiting THA or KA (p < 0.001). Those awaiting THA (odds ratio (OR) 0.52 (95% CI 0.31 to 0.89); p = 0.016) and KA (OR 0.46 (95% CI 0.31 to 0.71); p < 0.001) had a significant decrease in satisfaction with their healthcare. Conclusion. As patients waited from six to 12 months for THA or KA, they experienced a clinically significant deterioration in HRQoL. There were also deteriorations in joint-specific function, mental health, wellbeing, and patient satisfaction with healthcare. Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2024;106-B(2):166–173

Study Design: To design and test a new questionnaire to assess depression and other mood states. Summary of Background Data: Measurement of depression and of other mood states in pain patients has been criticised in recent years on the grounds that most questionnaires were not developed in pain populations and suffer from criterion contamination by somatic items. In addition, there is no accepted measurement for positive emotions which are more than the absence of depression. Objective: To develop a reliable and brief tool to assess mood in pain patients. Method: Non-somatic items concerning depression, anxiety and positive outlook were extracted using exploratory factor analysis from commonly used instruments (Beck Depression Inventory and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) completed by over 900 chronic pain patients. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the internal structure of the final item set. Items were then reworded and presented as a new questionnaire (the Depression, Anxiety and Positive Outlook Scale: DAPOS) to two new samples: patients attending pain management and patients attending osteopathy. The new questionnaire was compared with several well-known questionnaires (SF-36, BDI, PCS). The structure was calibrated and tested using confirmatory factor analysis on both samples. Finally, a sub-set of patients carried out a sorting task to test for face validity. Results and conclusion: The DAPOS performed well, indicating that it is a reliable measure of the three mood states with good initial evidence of validity in these samples