Anxiety-Depression of Dialysis Patients and Their Caregivers

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Anxiety-depression of patients undergoing hemodialysis has a strong relation with the levels of anxiety-depression of their caregivers. The aim of this study was to evaluate anxiety-depression of dialysis patients and their caregivers. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 414 pairs of patients and caregivers from 24 hemodialysis centers of Greece completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The statistical analysis of the data was performed through the Statistical Program SPSS version 20.0. The statistical significance level was set up at 5%. Results: The mean age of patients was 64 (54.06-72.41) years old and the mean duration of hemodialysis was 36 (16-72) months. The mean age of caregivers was 54 (44-66) years old. Of the total sample, 17.1% (n = 71) of patients had high levels of anxiety and 12.3% (n = 51) had high levels of depression. Additionally, 27.8% (n = 115) of caregivers had high levels of anxiety and 11.4% (n = 47) had high levels of depression. Caregivers had higher levels of anxiety when their patients had high levels of anxiety as well (42.3%). Additionally, they had higher levels of depression when their patients had high levels of depression as well (17.6%). Conclusions: The results of this study showed a significant association between the levels of anxiety and depression among patients and caregivers. There is a necessity for individualized assessment of dialysis patients and their caregivers and the implementation of specific interventions for reducing the levels of anxiety and depression among them.

Keywords: anxiety; caregivers; depression; end stage renal disease; hemodialysis; kidney failure; patients.