Chooni Lal, Syed Zafar Haider, Mubashar Shah, Iqbal Afridi, Abdul Manan Junejo.
Frequency of depressive disorder in patients with chronic renal failure on maintenance haemodialysis in a tertiary care hospital, Karachi.
J Pak Psych Soc Jan ;10(2):91-5.

Objective: To determine the frequency of depressive disorder in patients on maintenance haemodialysis in Nephrology ward. Design: Descriptive study. Place and Duration of study: This descriptive study was conducted from June 2008 to November 2008, at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi - Pakistan. Subjects & Methods: One hundred patients of ESRD on maintenance haemodialysis were inducted consecutively coming to hospital based upon the defined criteria. For the diagnosis and severity of depressive disorder ICD-10 criteria and HAM-D scales were applied. Results: Depression was found in 73% (n=73) patients on haemodialysis as per ICD-10 criteria, predominantly female patients. (52) were male, 48(48%) were female, 84 were married, mean age was 45.7+11.2 years. Out of 52 males, 34 were depressed and out of 48 females 39 were depressed. Among these 19 (26%) had mild, 38 (52.1%) had moderate and 16 (21.9%) patients had severe depression. (p value <0.0001). Of Hamilton rating scale was 21.1+5.2 Mean Score. Depression was high in age above 45 years. 64.4% depressed patients were between 45 & 64 years age. Frequent comorbid illnesses were Hypertension (38%), Diabetes Mellitus (35%) while chronic Glomerulonephritis being underlying disease was present in only 11% of cases. Conclusion: Depression is common in patients of ESRD on maintenance haemodialysis. Female, married, elder than 40 years, patients with low socio-economic & educational status were affected more. In addition to physical care there is dire need of steps to detect and manage mental disorders leading to good prognosis and achieving good quality of life.

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