Depression and anxiety as potential correlates of post-transplantation renal function and quality of life

The objective of this study was to determine anxiety and depression and its relationship with quality of life (QOL) in renal transplant (RT) recipients. A total of 105 consecutive patients were assessed cross-sectionally at least 3 months after RT. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale was applied to assess anxiety and depression. QOL was assessed through the abbreviated version of World Health Organization QOL scale. Patients’ awareness of illness and treatment was assessed through Structured Interview for Renal Transplantation. Nine (8.57%) patients had syndromal anxiety and 9 (8.57%) had syndromal depression. Both these groups had significantly lower scores in almost all domains of QOL compared with their non-anxious and non-depressed counterparts. There were a higher number of hospitalizations and episodes of complication or rejection in post-RT patients with anxiety as compared to those without (P = 0.001). Syndromal depression and anxiety are associated with poor QOL and syndromal anxiety is associated with significantly higher number of hospitalizations, rejections and complications in post-RT patients.