Age and gender characteristics and psycho-emotional state of patients with motor function disorders

Conditions affecting locomotory organs take various forms, they are characterized by high socioeconomic significance, and are accompanied by psycho-emotional disorders requiring differential correctional approach. In order to study various aspects of psycho-emotional state of patients taking into account their sex (41,0% males and 59,0% females) and age (med = 57,0 and range = 66,0) characteristics, 336 rehabilitation in-patients with various movement disorders were surveyed. The survey covered patients with motor function disorders resulting from acute cerebrovascular disorder (102 (57,3%) females, 76 (42,7%) males), degenerative-dystrophic conditions of the locomotor system (59 (56,1%) females, 46 (43,9%) males), and rheumatic join diseases (38 (71,7%) females, 15 (28,3%) males). The groups were homogenous by their age (Н(2, N = 336) = 2,93; р = 0,23) and gender (р = 0,08 based on Fisher's exact test) composition. The intensity of psychopathological symptoms was diagnosed within three days from the admission to the in-patient clinic using the SCL-90-R questionnaire. A comparative analysis of the current psycho-emotional state of the patients showed no statistically significant difference between nosological groups. Higher than control scores for "somatisation" and "obsessive-compulsiveness" subscales indicated that, regardless of nosology, limiting one of the fundamental life functions, the locomotor function, was accompanied by distress caused by the physical dysfunction, loss of control, and the sense of helplessness and weakness. At the same time, lower than control scores for "inter-personal sensitivity", "hostility", "paranoid trends", and "psychoticism" subscales could be explained by the positive emotional disposition of the patients towards treatment, and their willingness to collaborate and trust the professionalism of the medical staff. The significance of differences analysis of the level of severity of psychopathological symptoms in males and females showed that their current psycho-emotional state differs according to a number of subscales of the SCL-90-R questionnaire. Thus, females had higher levels of on-going distress, as well as "depres-siveness", "anxiety", "phobic anxiety", and "somatisation" scale scores. Statistically significant positive relationship was also revealed between the age and the level of intensity of so-matisation (R = 0,13, р = 0,02).

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