Psychiatry Research EG

Background Depression and anxiety are well established as prevalent mental health problem in end-stage assess and are undertreated. Objectives The aim of the study was to estimate the prevalence of depression and anxiety and to evaluate their risk factors in children on regular hemodialysis. Materials and methods Forty pediatric patients with end-stage renal failure on regular hemodialysis and 20 healthy control children were studied. All participants were subjected to proper history taking, thorough medical and psychiatric examination, psychometric assessment by pediatric anxiety and children depression inventory scale, and laboratory investigations including serum urea, creatinine, serum albumin, serum iron, serum ferritin, serum calcium, serum phosphate, serum parathormone hormone, hemoglobin level, and PT and PTT levels. Results There was a high prevalence rate of anxiety and depression among hemodialysis patients compared with that in healthy control children. Hemoglobin and serum albumin were found to be negatively correlated with both anxiety and depression. Conclusion Majority of pediatric patients undergoing hemodialysis were severely depressed and anxious. Pediatric patients on regular hemodialysis with anemia and hypoalbuminemia have more psychiatric disturbance than others. Keywords: anxiety, depression, hemodialysis, renal failure