Depressive Symptomatology in Patients with Rheumatic Diseases

Introduction: The prevalence of depression has been reported to be elevated in patients with rheumatic diseases. Rheumatic disease follows a painful, chronic and unknown course of exacerbations and remissions. These aspects of the disease may have a significant impact on the daily life of the patients, since they have to deal with a potentially unpredictable long-term condition that may affect almost all aspects of their physical, psychological and social functioning. Aim: The aim of the present review was to explore the frequency and the factors related to the appearance of depressive symptomatology in patients with rheumatic diseases. Material and Method: A literature review was conducted through Medline, Scopus, Science Direct και Google Scholar databases, using the key-words: “rheumatic diseases” and “depression”. Results: Chronic pain, physical disability, impaired functioning, the loss of valued activities, the lack of perceived control and self-efficacy may lead to the appearance of depressive symptomatology in patients with rheumatic diseases. However, depression remains often unrecognized and undertreated and is associated with functional disability, increased health care utilization and medical costs, poor compliance to treatment and impaired health-related quality of life. When the clinical status in rheumatic disorders becomes complicated with depressive symptoms, effective treatment, including drugs administration and/ or psychological interventions, is necessary. Conclusion: The findings highlight the importance of the detection and the evaluation of the psychosocial factors, which contribute to the appearance of depressive symptoms, but also the necessity to design psychological interventions targeting to their transformation, in order to decrease the elevated prevalence of depression. Health professionals’ and especially nurses’ role in the above process is extremely important.