Quality of Life and Depressive Symptoms in Patients with Major Depression and End-stage Renal Disease: a Matched-pair Study

Objective: To compare the quality of life (QOL) and depressive symptoms of outpatients with major depression with that of nondepressed individuals undergoing hemodialysis (matched for age, gender, and ethnicity).

Methods: We used the WHOQOL BREF and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI).

Results: After univariate analyses, depressed patients' QOL scores were significantly lower (P<.0001) in all the assessed domains (i.e., physical health, psychological, social relationships, environmental, and global QOL). Additionally, there was a significant difference in the severity of depression among the study groups (P<.0001). Finally, after multiple regression analysis, the QOL profile of depressed subjects remained significantly worse even when controlling for depression scores and diagnostic status.

Conclusion: The subjective QOL of patients with major depression is significantly lower than that of subjects undergoing hemodialysis.