Prevalence of depression in hemodialyzed patients of the “Ernesto Guevara de la Serna” General Hospital

Abstract

ABSTRACTBackground: the most frequent emotional responses of the patients suffering from renal diseases are related to anxiety and state of mind alterations, causing a decrease in personal care, which represents a greater risk for health.Objective: to describe the prevalence of depression in patients with terminal chronic renal failure and under hemodialysis treatment at the "Dr. Ernesto Guevara de la Serna” General Hospital of Las Tunas, from January to June 2017.Methods: a cross-sectional and descriptive methodology, that responds to positivist, quantitative epistemology, was used. Information was gathered by checking the patients' medical histories. A survey and the Beck Depression Inventory were used to measure the depression rating scales. The data were processed according to descriptive statistics.Results: the 20 hemodialyzed patients presented some type of depression, 45 % with moderate depression, 35 % with severe depression and 20 % with mild depression. Men predominated (75 %) among the patients with severe depression, and women prevailed (66,66 %) in the moderate type. 80 % of the cases corresponded to patients between 15 and 60 years of age. Three patients (23,1 %) committed an attempted suicide, although 13 (65 %) had a history of depression.Conclusions: depression was present in all patients with terminal chronic renal failure under hemodialysis treatment at the provincial hospital of Las Tunas, most of them with moderate or severe depression.

Keywords

• kidney failure, chronic
• depression
• psychology
• renal dialysis