Prevalence of Psychological Problems in Chinese Peritoneal Dialysis Patients

Background

Psychological problems are common among dialysis patients. We studied the prevalence of psychological problems in a cohort of Chinese peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients.

Methods

We studied 167 unselected adult PD patients from a single dialysis unit. Psychological status and social support were assessed by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey, Chinese version (MOS-SSS-C) questionnaires, respectively.

Results

With the HADS questionnaire, 33 (19.8%) and 76 patients (45.5%) had at least mild anxiety and depression symptoms, respectively. With the MOS-SSS-C questionnaire, 13.8% of patients had borderline social support, and 4.2% had poor social support. There was a close internal correlation between HADS and MOS-SSS-C scores. A higher HADS depression score was noted in male patients (8.19 ± 6.80, p = 0.023), elderly patients (r = 0.189, p = 0.033), and those with no full-time job (7.47 ± 4.31 vs 4.45 ± 2.16, p = 0.011). Patients who needed four daily exchanges had a significantly lower overall MOS-SSS-C score than those on three daily exchanges (248.4 ± 96.5 vs 284.5 ± 87.3, p = 0.032). Patients with poor compliance to drug had a higher HADS anxiety score (7.80 ± 4.44 vs 4.25 ± 4.17, p < 0.001) and lower MOS-SSS-C overall score (184.6 ± 115.9 vs 287.5 ± 91.2, p < 0.001), but the HADS depression score was similar.

Conclusion

Psychological symptoms are highly prevalent in Chinese PD patients. Depressive symptoms are common in elderly male patients without full-time jobs. On the other hand, anxiety symptoms and poor social support are associated with poor compliance to various aspects of treatment.

Key words:  compliance , depression , psychology , social support

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