Assessment of perceived social support and depression in elderly patients with knee osteoarthritis attending state specialist hospital in Nigeria

Background: Elderly people are faced with decreasing physical capabilities due to some chronic diseases like osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee, leading to a change in social status which increases the risk for depression. The study aimed to assess the pattern of social support, prevalence, and pattern of depression in the elderly with knee OA. Methods: The study used a descriptive cross-sectional design, conducted among one hundred and forty-seven elderly patients attending geriatric clinics, using a semi-structured self-administered questionnaire for data collection. Self-reported medical history form was used to capture current and past medical history and the multidimensional scale of perceived social support (MPSS) was used to assess perceived social support. Descriptive statistics was done for all variables with SPSS version 23; association was done by using Chi-square test and logistic regression and level of significance was set at p<0.05. Results: The study revealed a prevalence of 40.8% with a pattern of predominantly mild-moderate depression at 34.7%, while severe depression was 6.1%. The absence of depression was found to be 59.2%. A moderate level of perceived social support was seen in 61.9%. The level of social support was significantly associated with depression in the elderly with knee OA, p<0.05. Conclusions: The prevalence of depression among the elderly studied was good and the perceived social support was good among the studied populations.