Evaluation of anxiety and depression in hemodialysis patients with uremic pruritus

Uremic pruritus due to chronic kidney disease is one of the most important and common symptoms in these patients as well as more severe in patients with end-stage renal disease. Evidence suggests that mental disorders, especially anxiety and depression, are very common in patients with chronic renal failure and undergoing hemodialysis; The aim of this study was to determine the level of anxiety and depression in hemodialysis patients with uremic pruritus in selected hospitals of Tehran in 2019.
 

This is a cross-sectional analytical correlational study. The study population consisted of 300 hemodialysis patients with uremic pruritus in selected hospitals of Tehran in 2019 randomly selected. The instruments used in this study were demographic information questionnaire, Yosipovitch Pruritus questionnaire, Hospital Anxiety and Depression questionnaire (HADS).
  

The sample in this study was 300 persons. The mean anxiety score was 2.14 ± 10.14 and the mean depression score was 2.41±9.62 indicating high levels of anxiety and depression in these patients. Among the demographic variables, there was a statistically significant relationship between the underlying diseases with the level of anxiety and depression. According to the p-value, there is a significant positive relationship between mean severity of uremic pruritus   and anxiety and depression.

The results of this study showed that the level of anxiety and depression in hemodialysis patients participating in the study was high which could risk their health. The results also show that the higher the severity of the pruritus, the greater the degree of anxiety and depression. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the severity of depression and anxiety in these patients by providing appropriate strategies for the treatment of pruritus.