Journal of International Psychiatry

Objective: To explore the effect of medium frequency electrotherapy (MFET) on depressive symptoms, pain symptoms and quality of life in Geriatric Depression patients with concomitant pain (GDCP). Methods: A total of 61 GDCP were recruited from Wuxi mental health center and randomly divided into the treatment group and control group. Treatment group was given MFET and SSRIs therapy. Control group was given SSRIs therapy and sham stimulation regimen. Hamilton depression rating scale and McGill Pain Questionnaire were used to evaluate the severity of depression and pain, at the baseline，1-weekend, 2- weekend and 4-weekend of treatment respectively. Short Form 36 Health Survey Questionnaire and Treatment Emergent Symptom Scale were employed at the baseline and 4-week follow-up. Result：The change of HAMA index，visual analogous scale (VAS), present pain intensity (PPI), pain rating index (PRI) before and after treatment were all statistically significant. The P value of time effect and the interaction effect are both <0.05, by re-testing the variance test. The change of HAMD index in treatment group was greater than control group at 2-weekend and 4-weekend. The index of HAMD, VAS, PPI, and PRI of treatment group was lesser than control group at the end of 4 weeks. The scores of treatment group were significantly higher than those of the control group after 4 weeks of treatment in terms of physiological function, physiological function and somatic pain dimension (P<0.05). Conclusion: As an adjuvant therapy, MFET show significantly auxiliary effect, and improve the quality of life of GDCP.

geriatric depression; medium frequency electrotherapy; concomitant pain; quality of life.