A Study on the Pain, Depression and Relative Factor Perceived by Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

류마티스 관절염 환자가 지각하는 통증과 우울 정도 및 관련 요인

The purpose of this study was done to identify the relationship between the level of pain and depression in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The subjects for this study were 222 patients registered in H University Hospital Rheumatoid Arthritis Center, and the period of data collection was from July 20, 2000 to August 30, 2000. The research instruments used in this study were the Graphic Rating Scale of Pain and the CES-D for depression. The cronbach's ${\alpha}$ of the CBS-D scale was .89. Data analysis, was done by the SPSSWIN 10.0 program using descriptive statistics. The results are as follows. 1) The total pain score ranged from 0 to 147 with a mean score for pain in patients with rheumatoid arthritis of 72.64. 2) The total depression score ranged from 20 to 72 with a mean score of 39.86. 3) There was a significant difference in pain according to sex(F=5.26, p<.05) and education level (F = 3.59, p<.05). 4) There was a significant difference in depression scores according to sex (F=7 76, p<.05) and education level (F=3.02, p<.05). 5) The level of pain had a significant correlation with the level of education level(r=-.174, p<.01). The level of depression was significant correlation with the level of pain (r=.237. p<.01).