Assessment of quality of life and depression in spouses of patients with ankylosing spondylitis

The objective of this study is to investigate the quality of life and the rates of depression in spouses/partners of patients with AS compared with spouses/partners of healthy controls". Twenty-five persons with AS and their 25 spouses (21 women and 4 men) and 25 healthy controls were recruited consecutively. All the subjects completed 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaire forms and 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D17). Mean age was 35 +/- A 6.47 years in spouse group (SG) and 36.26 +/- A 5.93 in control group (CG). In SG and CG, the SF-36 subscale scores were compared using Mann-Whitney U test. Social functioning, mental health, emotional role, and general health were significantly (P < 0.05) lower in SG compared with CG. The average score of social functioning was found to be 65.41 in spouses of patients compared with healthy controls (90.75). Depression scores were significantly (P < 0.001) higher in SG compared with CG. Among SF-36 subgroups in spouses, general health perception had a negatively significant correlation with depression scores (P < 0.05) and duration of ankylosing spondylitis (P < 0.05). A positively significant correlation has been identified between bodily pain and depression scores in spouses (P < 0.05). Therefore, female partners of male patients were found to be more depressive. Being a spouse of a patient with AS significantly interferes with quality of life and increases the depression frequency.