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. 2025 Apr 1;120(4):909-913.
doi: 10.14309/ajg.0000000000003158. Epub 2024 Oct 25.

Psychological Distress Is Prevalent and Interdependent Among Patients With Decompensated Cirrhosis and Their Caregivers

Nneka N Ufere  1 , Chengbo Zeng  2 , John Donlan  3 , Daniel Shalev  4 , Alyson Kaplan  5 , Alan Noll  1 , Annie Liu  6 , Kedie Pintro  7 , Nora Horick  7 , Teresa Indriolo  1 , Lucinda Li  1 , Enya Zhu  1 , Malia E Armstrong  1 , Nancy Mason  8 , Kirsten G Engel  8 , Michaela Rowland  8 , Karen O'Brien  8 , Sara Kenimer  8 , Michelle S Diop  8 , Vicki Jackson  8 , Jennifer C Lai  9 , Raymond T Chung  1 , Jamie M Jacobs  10 , Maria O Edelen  2 , Areej El-Jawahri  11
Affiliations

Psychological Distress Is Prevalent and Interdependent Among Patients With Decompensated Cirrhosis and Their Caregivers

Nneka N Ufere et al. Am J Gastroenterol. .

Abstract

Introduction: Little is known about the interdependence of psychological distress among patients with decompensated cirrhosis and their caregivers.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we examined the interdependence of psychological distress (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) among 127 patient-caregiver dyads using Actor-Partner Interdependence Modeling.

Results: Among dyads, 26% had both partners reporting clinically significant anxiety and 18% reporting clinically significant depression. Caregiver anxiety significantly predicted patient depression (standardized β = 0.18, P = 0.03).

Discussion: Psychological distress was prevalent and interdependent among dyads. These results underscore the need to develop interventions to reduce psychological distress in both patients with decompensated cirrhosis and their caregivers.

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