Social Support and Anxiety-Depression-Stress Among Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis in War-Torn Syria

This study aims to clarify the current state of social support and the relationship with anxiety, depression, and stress among Syrian patients undergoing hemodialysis. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 250 patients undergoing hemodialysis at three public hospitals in Syria. The study included 250 Syrian patients who were undergoing hemodialysis and had a median age of 52.2 years (range: 18-79 years). Pearson correlation analysis revealed negative coefficients between social support and the other three variables, suggesting that higher levels of social support are associated with lower levels of depression and stress, with both correlations being statistically significant, as indicated by the double asterisks. Multiple linear regression analysis suggested that exercise, financial support, comorbidity, and diabetes were factors affecting depression; exercise, systolic blood pressure, employment, comorbidity, and duration per week were factors affecting anxiety; and exercise, systolic blood pressure, diabetes, financial support, comorbidity, and gender were factors affecting stress. This study highlights the high levels of psychological distress among patients undergoing hemodialysis in Syria and the modest role of social support in mitigating psychosocial burdens among Syrians.