Relationship between Anxiety, Depression, and Personality Type and the Incidence of Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy in Patients with Distal Radius Fracture

Background: there is inconsistent information about therole of psychological factors in the incidence of reflex sympatheticdystrophy (rsd) in patients with distal radius fractures.the present study was thus undertaken to evaluate therelationship between some of these factors and the occurrenceof reflex sympathetic dystrophy in patients with distalradius fracture.methods: one hundred and twenty patients with distal radiusfracture who met the criteria to enter the study and admitted tothe orthopedic department of imam reza hospital in mashhadwere evaluated. spielberger anxiety questionnaire, beck depressionquestionnaire, and personality type questionnaires aswell as the information about the patients' demography wererecorded after the treatment. the patients were followed fortwo months based on clinical evidence of rsd and the resultsof specific examinations. in our study, veldman's criteria wereused to set the diagnosis of rsd. finally, the psychologicalstatus of the patients with or without rsd was evaluated usingchi square and t tests.results: of the 88 patients completed the study, 13 were affectedby rsd. there was no significant relationship betweendepression and anxiety of the patients with occurrence of rsd(p>0.05). the presence of type a personality characters had asignificant positive relationship (p=0.000) and the presence oftype b personality had a significant negative relationship(p=0.004) with the incidence of rsd after 2 months.conclusion: personal characteristics of patients with distalradius fracture play a role in the incidence of rsd.iran j med sci 2008; 33(2): 74-78.