Mental Health, Depression, and Anxiety in Patients on Maintenance Dialysis

Authors

  • Usama Feroze Harold Simmons Center for Chronic Disease Research and Epidemiology and Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California, USA Author
  • David Martin David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the UCLA School of Public Health, Los Angeles, California, USA Author
  • Astrid Reina-Patton David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the UCLA School of Public Health, Los Angeles, California, USA Author
  • Kamyar Kalantar-Zadeh Harold Simmons Center for Chronic Disease Research and Epidemiology, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, and Department of Psychiatry, Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California, USA Author
  • Joel D Kopple Harold Simmons Center for Chronic Disease Research and Epidemiology, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, and Department of Psychiatry, Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California, USA Author

Abstract

Depression and anxiety are among the most common comorbid illnesses in people with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Patients with ESRD face many challenges which increase the likelihood that they will develop depression or anxiety or worsen these conditions. These include a general feeling of unwellness; specific symptoms caused by ESRD or the patient’s treatment; major disruptions in lifestyle; the need to comply with treatment regimens, including dialysis schedules, diet prescription, and water restriction; ancillary treatments and hospitalizations; and the fear of disability, morbidity, and shortened lifespan. Depression has been studied extensively in patients on maintenance dialysis, and much effort has been done to validate the proper screening tools to diagnose depression and to define the treatment options for patients on maintenance dialysis with depression. Anxiety is less well studied in this population of patients. Evidence indicates that anxiety is also common in maintenance dialysis. More attention should be paid to measuring the incidence and prevalence and developing methods of diagnosis and treatment approaches for anxiety in patients with ESRD. In this review, we attempted to underscore those aspects of depression and anxiety that have not been investigated extensively, especially with regard to anxiety. The interaction between racial/ethnic characteristics of patients on maintenance dialysis with depression and anxiety needs to be studied more extensively, in order to assess better approaches to healthcare for these individuals.

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Published

2010-06-16

Issue

Section

REVIEW | Dialysis

How to Cite

Mental Health, Depression, and Anxiety in Patients on Maintenance Dialysis. (2010). Iranian Journal of Kidney Diseases, 4(3), 173-180. https://www.ijkd.org/index.php/ijkd/article/view/359

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