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General Session II - Wound Care

General Session II - Wound Care

Risk Factors for Depression in Patients with Venous Stasis Ulcers

Sunday, March 3, 2024
5:22 PM – 5:32 PM EST
Location: Tampa Bay Ballroom Salons 1-4
Objective: Venous stasis ulcers (VSUs) are a common problem presenting to venous specialists. Previous literature has shown that VSUs significantly impact quality of life (QoL). Limited data exists that explore the relationship between depression and VSUs. Therefore, this study investigates risk factors associated between these two entities.

Methods: Patients were recruited from a single outpatient vascular surgery center from 2022 to 2023. An ulcer questionnaire, Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI), and RAND-36 QoL questionnaire were administered via telephone to patients with at least one open VSU. Statistics were performed using a Student’s t-test.

Results:

Thirty-one patients were recruited. 22 patients were male. Age ranged from 36 to 83 years (mean 66.7). The average BDI score was 12.4 ± 10.2 (SD=1.83). The average wound height and width were 3.48 cm and 4.57 cm, respectively. The average duration of VSUs was 3.6 years. Pain was reported in 29 out of 31 patients, with an average pain scale score of 4.63 ± 0.87 (SD=4.87) out of 10. 17 patients experienced recurrent VSUs. The subjective experience of patients regarding their ulcer health was categorized as getting better for 18 patients, staying the same for 4 patients, and getting worse for 9 patients. 
BDI scores showed significant positive correlations with chronicity of VSUs, wound width, and wound height (p< 0.001). Additionally, chronicity of VSUs was significantly related to RAND36 health change score (p< 0.001), suggesting that longer-lasting ulcers are associated with poorer overall health-related QoL. The BDI score also had a significant correlation with patient-reported pain scores (p< 0.001) and if the ulcer was recurrent (p=0.03). Wound surface area (p=0.06) and perception of worsening (P=0.34) were not associated with BDI scores.

Conclusions: Our data suggest that longer-lasting, recurrent, and larger wound dimensions are strongly associated with higher depression scores, highlighting the importance of addressing psychological factors in the management of chronic VSUs.