Assessment of Depression, Anxiety, Quality of Life and Physical Activity
The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was employed for the assessment of depression and anxiety(10). Individual confidentiality was maintained. This is an easily administered questionnaire consisting of 14 questions (7 questions pertaining to depression and 7 questions pertaining to anxiety). Each question is answered by the selection of one of four options which are scored from 0-3. A score of ≥ 8 was used to define cases of depression or anxiety.
Health-related quality of life was assessed using the SF-36 questionnaire(11,12). It is a 36-item questionnaire that measures physical functioning, role limitation due to physical health, bodily pain, general health, energy or vitality, social functioning, role limitation due to emotional problems and mental health. The test was administered by well-trained nursing staff. Average time taken to administer the test was kept equal for all patients. The eight scaled scores were given a value of 0-100 with lower scores representing more disability.
The short form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was used for assessment of physical activity of patients(13). This consists of seven questions regarding vigorous physical activity, moderate physical activity, walking and sitting in the preceding one week. The participants were categorized into high, moderate or low physical activity.