Factors Associated with Occurrence of Depressive Symptoms among Patients Undergoing Magnetic Resonance Imaging

A lot of serious diseases can have depression as the comorbidity. The aim of this study was to inspect the socio-demographic factors and factors related to the MRI procedures, and their influence on the occurrence of depressive symptoms among patients undergoing the magnetic resonance imaging. This research was conducted as a cross-sectional study at the University Clinical Center in Kragujevac in the Department of Radiological Diagnostics. The questionnaire consists of socio-demographic characteristics, but also the questions about data relevant to the MRI. The questionnaire used to assess the presence of depressive symptoms and the degree of depression was Beck Depression Scale, which was validated and had strong internal consistency. The manifestation of symptoms of depression, looking at the sociodemographic factors, depended only of marital status. The analysis showed statistically significant differences for all variables related to radiological procedures (time running MRI scans, type of MRI scans, duration of waiting, disease type). Post-hoc analysis revealed that depressive symptoms were more common among patients undergoing MRI for the first time compared to those having it for the second time, among patients having MRI of the thorax and pelvis compared to MRI of the extremities, among oncology patients compared to orthopedic and neurological patients, and among widowed individuals compared to other marital status groups. Depression is comorbidity to a lot of diseases. This research has brought a lot of significance among the depression and examined factors, which should be acknowledged by radiologists when patient have an appointment for MRI in order to reduce the possibility of people start or continue expressing symptoms.