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.