Depression status and related factors in patients with maintenance hemodialysis

Objectives To investigate the incidence of depression status and the related factors in patients with maintenance hemodialysis (MHD). Methods One hundred and forty three MHD patients were enrolled in the study. According to Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-D) score, 50 patients (35.0%) were classified in depression group and 93 were in non-depression group. The basic clinical information, demographic characteristics and laboratory parameters were collected. Univariate analysis, Pearson correlation and hierarchical regression analysis were used to assess the related factors of depression status. Results The average HADS-D score in 143 MHD patients was 6.22±2.35, and that in depression group and in non-depression group was 9.76±3.85 and 3.64±2.91, respectively. The prevalence of the symptoms in MHD patients varied from 15.9% to 98.4%, and the score of symptom burden was 12-136(72.54±34.86). Univariate analysis revealed that marital status(χ2=4.493, P=0.034), economic status(χ2=4.187, P=0.04), symptom burden(r=0.68, P<0.001), symptom severity(r=0.59, P<0.001)and social support(r=-0.38, P=0.002)were associated with the depression. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that depression was associated significantly with symptom burden(β=0.546, P<0.001), symptom severity(β=0.428, P<0.001) and social support(β=0.205, P=0.032). Symptom burden and severity could explain 30.5% of the depression variance. Conclusions The prevalence of depression status is high in MHD patients, which is positively correlated with symptom burden. Among all influencing factors, symptom burden has the greatest impact on the depression status, and maybe an important predicting factor of depression. Key words: Renal dialysis; Depression