Correlates of depression in chronic dialysis patients: morbidity and mortality

A group of 74 end-stage renal disease outpatients on dialysis completed on of seven forms of the Depression Adjective Check List (DACL) (Lubin, 1981) once a month over a 12-month period. Patient cooperation in filling out the DACL was 95%, indicating patient's acceptance of this fairly unobtrusive instrument. The distribution of usable DACL scores of 53 patients was trifurcated: high = one SD above the mean; medium +/- one SD from the mean; and low = more than one SD below the mean. A one-way ANOVA on the mean number hospitalizations during the 12-month period for each group was significant, F (2,50) = 8.11, p less than .01. The mean number of hospital admissions was highest for the high depression group and lowest for the low depression group. DACL scores of seven patients who died were significantly higher than for the 46 survivors, t (60) = 4.44, p less than .01.