Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatry. Jul 19, 2025; 15(7): 103185
Published online Jul 19, 2025. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i7.103185
Correlation of anxiety and depression with ankle function in chronic ankle instability patients and analysis of risk factors
Zu-Po Yu
Zu-Po Yu, Department of Orthopedics, The People’s Hospital of Pingyang and Pingyang Hospital Affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University and Pingyang Branch of Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Wenzhou 325400, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Yu ZP designed the research and wrote the first manuscript, contributed to conceiving the research and analyzing data, conducted the analysis and provided guidance for the research.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Ethic Committee of The People’s Hospital of Pingyang Country.
Informed consent statement: Patients were not required to give informed consent to the study because the analysis used anonymous clinical data that were obtained after each patient agreed to treatment by written consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Zu-Po Yu, MD, Doctor, Department of Orthopedics, The People’s Hospital of Pingyang and Pingyang Hospital Affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University and Pingyang Branch of Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, No. 555 Kun’ao Avenue, Kunyang Town, Pingyang County, Wenzhou 325400, Zhejiang Province, China. yuzupo123@163.com
Received: March 21, 2025
Revised: April 20, 2025
Accepted: May 19, 2025
Published online: July 19, 2025
Processing time: 110 Days and 19.4 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: The incidence of chronic ankle instability (CAI) reaches up to 53%, with nearly half of affected patients reporting negative emotions such as anxiety and depression. These psychological factors have negatively affected both treatment efficacy and functional recovery of the ankle. This study involved 116 patients with CAI and revealed that approximately 20.0% demonstrated varying severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms. Statistical analysis revealed a significant inverse correlation between the severity of patients’ anxiety/depression symptoms and their ankle functional outcomes. The study further determined three independent risk factors impairing ankle functional recovery: (1) Inadequate early functional exercise; (2) Increased pain levels as measured by the visual analog scale; and (3) Higher scores on the self-rating depression scale. These results indicate that clinical management should incorporate comprehensive psychological assessment and targeted interventions to optimize functional outcomes. Further, implementing early rehabilitation exercises and effective pain management strategies may help mitigate psychological distress while facilitating ankle function restoration.