Abstract

Background: Depression is one of the chronic diseases that has the potential to cause disability, increasing the burden of medical care for the elderly. Elderly patient with multiple medical conditions and multiple medications are at higher risk of depression than younger people. However, depression is not a normal part of aging. The prevalence of elderly people with chronic kidney disease on dialysis is increasing. These patients are at high risk of depression.

Methods: Cross-sectional descriptive study on 93 elderly outpatients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) on dialysis at the Department of Nephrology Thong Nhat Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City from December 2020 to June 2021.

Results: The prevalence of depression in elderly patients with end-stage kidney disease on maintenance hemodialysis was 43%. After multivariate regression analysis, there was a relationship between depression and stroke (OR=4.01; 95% CI: 1.20 – 13.38; p: 0.024); cancer (OR=13.91; 95% CI: 1.16 - 166.23; p: 0.038).

Conclusions: The prevalence of depression is high in elderly patients with end-stage kidney disease on maintenance hemodialysis and depression is independently associated with comorbidities of stroke and cancer.