Knee pain leads to depression?

Washington D.C [US]: According to a research, a lot of men and women, aged 60 years or above, face knee problems due to Osteoarthritis (OA), which may lead to depression.

Knee OA has already affected a great percentage of people in the world. Few studies have also focused on how knee pain and impaired knee function relate to depression.

Osteoarthritis is a joint disease that develops when the joint becomes inflamed because of the protective cartilage and other tissues that cushion the joints and damages the knee over time. The pain caused can damage the quality of one's life and, therefore, can lead to depression.

According to a study conducted in the US, knee OA has affected about 13 percent of women and 10 percent of men there. In Japan, the ratio is of 55 percent people of the total population.

A study began between 2005 and 2006, where none of the participants had depression. But some years later, after completing the interviews about their knee pain, symptoms of depression were evaluated for the same.

The researchers concluded that nearly 12 percent of the participants developed symptoms of depression. It was also noticed that people who experienced knee pain at night while in bed, or while getting in or out of a car were more likely to report having symptoms of depression.

This has been published in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.