Prevalence of depression in patients on hemodialysis and its impact on quality of life

Objective: the aim was to address the prevalence of depression in a group of patients on hemodialys and determine its effect on quality of life (qol).methodology: this cross-sectional study was conducted between 1st march, 2007 and 28th feb., 2008 in a district of western turkey. the study group included 294 hemodialys patients. the questionnaire included the patients� sociodemographic characteristics, beck depression scale, and medical outcomes study short form-36. chi-square test and spearman correlation analyses were used for statistical analyses, with a p value lower than 0.05 being considered significant.results: the average age of the study group was 55.89±15.22 years (range=19-86). prevalence of depression was found to be 27.9%, and was significantly higher in women, in those with older age, in those with lower level of education and in unemployed patients (p < 0.05 in each one). the mean scores received from all domains in the sf-36 were significantly lower in depressive patients (p < 0.001 in each one). as the scores that patients received from the beck depression inventory (bdi) increased, the scores obtained from all domains in sf-36 showed decrease (p < 0.001, for each one).conclusion: depression adversely affecting qol is a common health problem in hemodialysis patients. thus, periodic screenings should be done for detection, prevention and control of depression