Relationship between depression, clinical and biochemical parameters in patients undergoing haemodialysis

In this paper, we investigated the incidence of depression and its relation to clinical, laboratory parameters and sleep disorders in 45 haemodialysis (HD) patients. They were divided into two groups. Group A (n = 29) had no depression, whereas Group B (n = 16) had clinically assessed depression. Subjects were compared in terms of socioeconomic, clinical, laboratory parameters and presence of sleep disorders. Groups were matched for age, sex, family status, education, self-esteem, coffee and alcohol consumption, psychiatric history, time on HD and laboratory (serum urea, creatinine, electrolytes, iron, albumin and lipids) parameters. Group B demonstrated significantly lower haemoglobin levels (11.13 ± 1.69 and 12.23 ± 1.31 g/dl, respectively; p < 0.01) and higher C-Reactive Protein (CRP) levels (1.82 ± 1.73 and 0.83 ± 0.6 mg/dl, respectively; p < 0.005) compared to Group A. Additionally, strong correlation was observed when Hamilton Depression Scale scores were related to haemoglobin (r =-0.30, p < 0.05), CRP (r = 0.38, p < 0.001) and AIS scores (r = 0.54, p < 0.0001). In conclusion, depression seems to be related to high CRP, low haemoglobin levels and sleep disorders.