An Assessment of Mental Health among Dialysis Patients in Gadag District, Karnataka

Abstract

Background One of the most prevalent mental illnesses that chronic kidney disease CKD patients undergoing haemodialysis tend to encounter is depression. Patients receiving haemodialysis have frequently experienced underdiagnosed and undertreated depression.Objectives To assess the mental health of chronic kidney disease patients mainly depression and to analyze reasons for depression among dialysis patients in Gadag district Karnataka.Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted at Government and Private hospitals of Gadag Karnataka between December 2023 to January 2024. Beck Depression Inventory-2 scale was used to assess depression and reasons for depression among CKD patients. Subsequently the statistical analysis of the gathered data was executed using SPSS version 20.0. The predetermined level of statistical significance was established at 5.Results The study included one hundred patients from a district hospital two private hospitals and four subdistrict hospitals. With a mean age of 49.94 years standard deviation 12.85 most of the patients were male 75 with the majority in the age range of 60-69 years 25. Concerningly all the haemodialysis patients suffered from depression in varying severity and as high as 62 patients reported having severe depression. Some of the factors that were found to be associated with depression included religion employment status family income f inancial difficulties fluid intake chronic pain illness that conflicts with living renal diet and sleep disturbance.Conclusion Patients with CKD are more prone to depression and this study also indicates an increased incidence of severe depression among them. The socio-demographic characteristics and factors related to the disease and treatment were associated with the prevalence of depression among the study sample. In order to improve the patientrsquos quality of life depressive symptoms need to be regularly assessed and promptly treated with psychological counselling. The socio-economic causes predisposing to mental health issues need to be addressed as a priority.