Correlates of depression in chronic dialysis patients: Morbidity and mortality

Abstract

A group of 74 end-stage renal disease outpatients on dialysis completed on of seven forms of the Depression Adjective Check List (DACL) (Lubin, 1981) once a month over a 12-month period. Patient cooperation in filling out the DACL was 95%, indicating patient's acceptance of this fairly unobtrusive instrument. The distribution of usable DACL scores of 53 patients was trifurcated: high = one SD above the mean; medium +/- one SD from the mean; and low = more than one SD below the mean. A one-way ANOVA on the mean number hospitalizations during the 12-month period for each group was significant, F (2,50) = 8.11, p less than .01. The mean number of hospital admissions was highest for the high depression group and lowest for the low depression group. DACL scores of seven patients who died were significantly higher than for the 46 survivors, t (60) = 4.44, p less than .01.

Risk of Hospitalization for Chronic Hemodialysis Patients

“…Cardiovascular problems and psychiatric disorders were found to be major reasons for hospitalization, which is consistent with other reported studies (Hutchinson, Thomas & MacGibbon, 1982;Kutner & Cardenas, 1981;Lindner, Charra, Sharrard & Scribner, 1974;Lowrie, Lazarus, Hampers & Merrill, 1974;Numan et al, 1981;Plough & Salem, 1982). The results suggest that improved clinical management of anxiety, depression, heart block and ischemic peripheral vascular disease may reduce the morbidity associated with these conditions.…”

“…Depression and death have been associated with frequency of hospitalization (Numan, Barklind & Lubin, 1981) and noncompliance may lead to hospitalization (Wolcott, Maida, Diamond & Nissenson, 1986). Procci (1978) found that unemployed single males living away from their families are the most noncompliant group among hemodialysis patients and may therefore experience a greater number of hospitalizations.…”

Comparison of depression in the community-dwelling and assisted-living elderly

“…A possible confounding variable, however, is physical health status. It is likely, because of the definition of assisted living, that this group had lower physical health status, and there is evidence of a relationship between physical health and depressive mood (Davis-Berman, 1988; Lubin et al, 1988;Numan, Barklind, & Lubin, 1981).…”

Stressors, coping and depression in haemodialysis patients

“…There also is evidence that depression may lead to poor patient outcomes in ESRD. Higher levels of depression have been found to lead to more hospital admissions (Numan et al 1981) for renal or psychiatric care, although the exact reasons for the admissions are not clear. Findings pertaining to the relationship between depression and survival have been mixed, with some showing that depression leads to poorer survival rates (Peterson et al 1991, Kimmel 1992 and others that depression does not predict survival (Christensen et al 1994).…”