Psychological evaluation in hemodialysis patients.

INTRODUCTION

End stage renal disease has a high burden of disease affecting patient's quality of life and this may dramatically shorten their life expectancy. These patients may be faced with serious stressors which are related to the disease and its treatment. Considering psychosocial problems in hemodialysis patients, we designed this study to evaluate depression, anxiety, social support and to determine temperament, character and correlation between these factors in hemodialysis patients.

METHODS

This was a multicenter cross-sectional study which was done on 218 hemodialysis patients in Isfahan during April-July 2011. Depression, anxiety, social support, temperament and character were evaluated in patients using Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Persian version of Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS-P) and Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) questionnaires.

RESULTS

138 (63.3%) subjects were male. Mean age was 58.18 +/- 14.3 years. 95 (43.6%) participants had depression and 94 (43.1%) had anxiety. Family support had the highest score between social support subscales. Family support was significantly correlated with self-directedness (p = 0.012), cooperativeness (p = 0.03), self-transcendence (p = 0.018), reward dependence and friends support (p = 0.036) and cooperativeness and others support (p = 0.049).

CONCLUSION

Physicians should be aware of depression and anxiety in hemodialysis patients. Our results showed that patients had a supportive relation with their family and it could be because of Iranian culture and religious believes. In terms of temperament and character, patients were tolerant, supportive, humble and sociable.