Relation between personality dimensions and depressive symptoms in patients on hemodialysis

The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between the presence of depressive symptoms and certain dimensions of personality in hemodialysis patients. The study included 93 subjects of both sexes, aged 24-78 years. All subjects were undergoing hemodialysis treatment for terminal stage renal insufficiency. The presence of depressive symptoms was operationally defined by the factor scores for the first principal components on the Beck Depression Inventory. Five personality dimensions were operationally defined by the factor scores for the first principal components on each of the five scales of the Big Five Inventory. The following dimensions of personality were assessed: neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. The relationship between the five dimensions of personality and the presence of depressive symptoms was analyzed by the multiple regression analysis. The results showed that personality dimensions are significantly connected with the occurrence of depressive symptoms (R = 0.729; R2 = 0.532; F (5,87) = 19.822; p = 0.000). Two partial predictors were significantly connected with depressive symptoms. They were higher degree of neuroticism (beta = 0.082, p = 0.000) and a lower degree of openness (beta = -0.235, p = 0.016).