Influence of Depressive Symptoms on Hallux Valgus Surgical Outcomes

The relationship between depressive symptoms and patient outcomes after hallux valgus surgery has not been well-studied. We hypothesized that patients with depressive symptoms would have greater subjective dysfunction preoperatively and less functional improvement and satisfaction after surgery when compared with patients without depressive symptoms.

A total of 239 adult patients who had surgical hallux valgus correction over a 2-year period were retrospectively enrolled. A telephone survey was administered prospectively at least 11 months postoperatively inquiring about overall satisfaction level with surgery and satisfaction with postoperative pain level. A scale of 0 to 6 was used, with 0 indicating complete dissatisfaction and 6 indicating complete satisfaction. Patients were divided into 2 groups based on depressive symptoms; a Short Form-12 mental component score (SF-12 MCS) of less than 45.6 points was considered indicative of active depressive symptoms based on literature correlating SF-12 scores with Patient Health Questionnaire-9 for depression. Given the great variability of depressive symptoms in patients with or without self-reported depression and medicated or unmedicated status, we elected to use the MCS classification of depressive symptoms for our analysis. Data from 239 patients were available for analysis, with an average age of 51.6 years and 207 women (87%). Two hundred eighteen patients (91%) completed preoperative functional scores, 160 patients (67%) completed the satisfaction survey at an average of 23 months postoperatively (range 11 to 43 months), and 154 patients (64%) completed postoperative functional scores an average of 21 months postoperatively (range, 11-44 months). Results Thirty-six of 239 patients (15%) with baseline functional scores exhibited depressive symptoms. There was no significant difference in baseline functional scores and pain levels between groups with the exception of the SF-12 MCS ( P < .001). Most outcomes improved significantly over time, including the SF-12 physical component score ( P = .013), Foot and Ankle Ability Measure (FAAM; P = .013), and FAAM Activities of Daily Living ( P = .046). The patients with depressive symptoms generally had lower scores at baseline and final follow-up in all functional scores, with the exception of visual analog scale (VAS). VAS pain scores started higher in the group of patients with depressive symptoms and ended lower. Satisfaction with postoperative pain was lower in the group with depressive symptoms when compared with patients without depressive symptoms (3.6 vs 4.5, P = .042). There was no significant difference in satisfaction after surgery between groups ( P = .251).

Patients with depressive symptoms had greater pain at baseline and less pain postoperatively when compared with patients without depressive symptoms; however, satisfaction levels with postoperative pain were lower in these patients. Furthermore, most functional scores were lower in patients with depressive symptoms, with the exception of the MCS. Reported history of depression was not associated with any significant difference in functional outcome scores or satisfaction. Further study is warranted to determine why patients with depressive symptoms fare worse after surgical hallux valgus correction by most subjective measures.

Level III, comparative study.