Assessment of quality of life and psychiatric morbidity in patients undergoing hemodialysis at a tertiary care center

Background: Hemodialysis is a procedure performed in persons who suffer from acute/chronic renal failure or who have end-stage renal disease. Due to disabilities caused by renal disease and the continuous requirement of dialysis, it is frequently associated with comorbid psychiatric disorders, which in turn adversely affects the quality of life (QOL) of patients. Aims and Objectives: Our study was conducted with the objectives of estimating the proportion of psychiatric comorbidities and the QOL among the patients who were on hemodialysis. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was done on a total of fifty consecutive patients undergoing dialysis in the hemodialysis unit, Department of Nephrology, Narayana Medical College and Hospital. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to obtain the sociodemographic details, history including details of illness, dialysis, and medical comorbidities. The presence of psychiatric comorbidities was assessed using Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview. The WHOQOL-BREF Scale was used to assess the QOL and the Modified Kuppuswamy Socioeconomic Scale was used to assess the socioeconomic status. Results: Psychiatric comorbidities were observed in 80% of the patients undergoing hemodialysis. Among the psychiatric comorbidities, major depressive disorder was found in 54%, dysthymia in 14%, and generalized anxiety disorder in 12% of the patients. History of diabetes was found in 80% of the patients and history of hypertension was found in all the patients in the study. Among the patients, a significant association was observed between the psychiatric comorbidities and the score in all the four domains of the WHOQOL-BREF Scale. Conclusions: Our study concludes that the majority of the patients were found to have psychiatric comorbidities. On the WHOQOL-BREF Scale, all the four domains in QOL were significantly associated with psychiatric morbidity