Prevalence of Depressive Symptoms among Hemodialysis and Peritoneal Dialysis Patients.

Introduction: End stage renal disease (ESRD) affects patient's physical and psychological health. Depression is the most common psychiatric illness among patients with ESRD. This study aimed to identify the prevalence of depressive symptoms among patients undergoing peritoneal (PD) and hemodialysis (HD), also to correlate these symptoms with the demographic data.

Methods: this is a cross-sectional study that includes 133 PD patients and 133 HD patients attending the King Fahad Dialysis Center at King Saud Medical Complex (KSMC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Socio-demographic data were documented. Depression was evaluated by using the zung self- rating depression scale (Zung SDS).

Results: using the Zung SDS; the prevalence of depression was significantly higher among PD patients (98.5%) in compare with HD patients (83.5%).

Conclusion: the study reveals that there is a high prevalence of depressive symptoms among PD and HD patients. This will lead us to think of adding a system for screening, diagnosis and treatment of depression for all dialysis patients to improve their life.