Anxiety and Depression in Hemodialysis: Sex Differences

Approach to hemodialysis care from a gender perspective has received a great deal of attention globally since two sexes may have different experiences and manifestations of the same disease.

To explore sex differences in anxiety and depression among hemodialysis patients.

In the study were enrolled 200 patients (100 men and 100 women) who underwent hemodialysis. Data were collected by the completion of "The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)" which included patients' self-reported characteristics. The statistical significance level was p < 0.05.

In men and women, anxiety was statistically significantly associated with relations with nurses (p = 0.033 and p = 0.001, respectively), concealment of hemodialysis (p = 0.013 and p = 0.001, respectively), and insomnia (p = 0.001 and p = 0.001, respectively). Only in women, anxiety was statistically significantly associated with years under hemodialysis (p = 0.002), relation with doctors (p = 0.001), and their belief that life had changed (p = 0.002), whereas only in men, anxiety was associated with help in daily activities (p = 0.001). In men and women, depression was statistically significantly associated with relations with nurses (p = 0.002 and p = 0.001, respectively) and dependency on health professionals (p = 0.001 and p = 0.002, respectively). Only in women, depression was statistically significantly associated with years under hemodialysis (p = 0.002), level of information (p = 0.022), relations with doctors (p = 0.001), concealment of hemodialysis (p = 0.001), their belief that life had changed (p = 0.001), and insomnia (p = 0.001).

The development of an effective treatment that may alleviate anxiety and depression needs to capture how patients perceive and respond to hemodialysis.