Anxiety and/or depression: which symptoms contribute to adverse clinical outcomes after amputation?

Background: One of the most serious complications of diabetes mellitus (DM) is a diabetic foot ulcer
(DFU), with lower extremity amputation (LEA). Aims: This study aims to explore the role of anxiety and depression on mortality, reamputation and healing, after a LEA due to DFU. Methods: A sample of 149 patients with DFU who underwent LEA answered the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and a sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire. This is a longitudinal and multicenter study with four assessment moments that used Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for demographic and clinical variables. Results: Rate of mortality, reamputation and healing, 10 months after LEA were 9.4%, 27.5% and 61.7%, respectively. Anxiety, at baseline, was negatively associated with healing. However, depression was not an independent predictor of mortality. None of the psychological factors was associated with reamputation. Conclusion: Results highlight the significant contribution of anxiety symptoms at pre-surgery, to healing after a LEA. Suggestions for psychological interventions are made.
Portuguese Foundation for
Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science,
Technology and Higher Education through National Funds and cofinanced by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020
Partnership Agreement [POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653]. This work
was also supported by UID/MAT/00013/2013 and SFRH/BD/87704/
2012