Depression and quality of life in patients with chronic wounds: ways to measure their influence and their effect on daily life

R Renner, C Erfurt-Berge Department of Dermatology, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany Abstract: Depression is a very common comorbidity in patients with chronic wounds. At least 30% of those patients suffer from depressive symptoms or anxiety. To measure impairment on daily life, different quality of life (QoL) questionnaires can be used as well as specialized questionnaires to evaluate different levels of depression. In this review, we present some of the current measurement tools and effects of depression on QoL. Depression is often associated with wound duration, odor of wounds, and furthermore with pain and immobility. On the other hand, depression might reduce wound healing itself via psychoimmunological effects. QoL, in general, is reduced in patients with chronic wounds, but especially in the case of pain, immobility and older age, and sometimes independent to wound status (healed or active). Treating medical and health care personnel should establish depression and QoL questionnaires in daily practice and should consider the psychological health of their patients as part of their treatment. Keywords: quality of life questionnaire, depression assessments, pain, chronic wounds, anxiety, depressio