Abstract
Background: Psychological health is as important as physical health, which needs more attention to provide the high quality of life to patients with chronic diseases. Kidney disease is among the top-stress illnesses because of the chronicity and long-term management of the disease. Depression is common in CKD and is associated with a significant risk of adverse consequences. Anxiety and depression are the two most common entities in the hemodialysis population.
Methods: A cross-sectional study had been conducted by using a convenience sample. A total of 399 hemodialytic patients in Almadinah, Saudi Arabia had been included in this study. The data were analyzed using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21. A p-value cut off point of 0.05 at 95% CI used to determine statistical significance. Numbers and percentages were used to presents all categorical variables while mean +/- standard deviation were used to summarize all continuous variables. We used Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (QIDS SR-16) to measure the depression of hemodialysis patients. (29) The analyses that measure the association between socio-demographic characteristics and depression level among hemodialysis patients by using chi-square test.
Results: There were 399 patients who were voluntarily involved in this study. Age range of the patients were from 13 to 84 years old where 51 (12.8%) of the patients were from 30 years or less age group, 74 (18.5%) were from 31 - 40 years' age group, 72 (18.0%) were from 41 - 50 years' age group, 97 (24.3%) were from 51 - 60 years' age group and 105 (26.3%) were in more than 60 years' age group. Majority of them were males as 210 (52.6%) while 189 (47.4%) were females. It was revealed that the prevalence of depression among hemodialytic patients was 69.2% where no depression had 30.8%, Mild depression had 35.3%, moderate depression had 24.1%, Severe depression had 7.5% and very severe with 2.3%. Significant relationship found at age group in years, gender and marital status against the level of depression.
Conclusion: In this study two out three hemodialytic patients were depressed. This prevalence of depression was still at high and this causes more hospitalization and increased of mortality rates among patients. In this regard, extra counseling and monitoring are needed for those patients. Preemptive measures are necessary for those hemodialytic participants with suspected depressive symptoms.