Citation

Tsai IH, Graves DE, Lai CH, Hwang LY, Pompeii LA. Arch. Phys. Med. Rehabil. 2014; 95(2): 236-243.

Affiliation

School of Public Health, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston,. Electronic address: I-Hsuan.Tsai@uth.tmc.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.apmr.2013.08.004

PMID

23973443

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between the frequency of Internet use and depression among people with spinal cord injury (SCI). DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey SETTING: The Model Spinal Cord Injury System in the United States PARTICIPANTS: People with SCI (N=4,618) who were interviewed between 2004 and 2010. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. EXPOSURE AND OUTCOME MEASURES: The frequency of Internet use and the severity of depressive symptoms were measured simultaneously by interview. Internet use was reported as daily, weekly, monthly, or none. The depressive symptoms were measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), with two published criteria being used to screen for depressive disorder. The diagnostic method places more weight on non-somatic items (i.e., items 1, 2, and 9), and the cut-off method that determines depression by a PHQ-9 score ≥ 10 places more weight on somatic factors. The average scores of somatic and non-somatic items represented the severity of somatic and non-somatic symptoms, respectively. RESULTS: Our multivariate logistic regression model indicated that daily Internet users were less likely to have depression (OR=.77, 95% CI: .64-.93) if the diagnostic method were used. The linear multivariate regression analysis indicated that daily and weekly Internet usage was associated with fewer non-somatic symptoms; no significant association was observed between daily or weekly Internet usage and somatic symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: People with SCI who use the Internet daily are less likely to have depression.

Language: en