Prevalence of Depression in Pre-Dialytic Chronic Kidney Disease Patients Attending at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Bangladesh

Background: Depression is a common and serious medical illness around the world. It occurs more frequently in patients with chronic illness than in the general population. It is a common psychiatric problem in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Objective: To assess the level of depression in pre-dialytic CKD patients attending at a tertiary care hospital in Bangladesh. Methodology: This cross sectional study was conducted at Department of Nephrology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Dhaka, Bangladesh from January 2020 to June 2020. A total of 100 pre-dialytic CKD patients were selected by convenience sampling technique and their level of depression was assessed by Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (ZSDS). Data were collected by existing questionnaire with face to face interview and analyzed by statistical test. Results: The mean age of the participants was 49.70 ± 11.80 years. Among them 64% were male, 95% were muslim, 98% were married, 65% were completed secondary/above higher secondary level education, 65% were unemployed and 55% were lived in urban area. It was observed that 65% participants were economically dependent to their family, only 6% were engaged in regular exercise, 14% had family history of depression, 8% were smoker and 12% were alcohol/drug abuser. According to the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (ZSDS) we found 29% participants were mildly depressed, 39% participants were moderately depressed and 18% participants were severely depressed. Prevalence of depression was 86% in pre-dialytic CKD patients. Of them, 7% was in CKD stage-I, 17.4% was in CKD stage-II, 19.8% was in CKD stage-III, 22.1% was in CKD stage-IV and 33.7% was in CKD stage-V. Conclusion: Depression is highly prevalent in pre-dialytic CKD patients and more frequent in the advanced stages of CKD.