Determining levels of anxiety and depression of patients living in Nasiriyah city receiving dialysis treatment

This study aimed to determine depression and anxiety levels of patients undergoing dialysis in Nasiriyah City, Iraq. This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted between 04/30/2022 - 10/30/2022 at the hospitals of the city of Nasiriyah, which are the Imam Hussein Training Hospital and the Nasiriyah Training Hospital in Iraq. The sample consisted of 152 chronic kidney disease patients who agreed to participate in the study. The participants based on selection criteria including: (1) Dialysis patients in Nasiriyah, (2) agreed to participate in the study, (3) Senior participants, (4) Arabs who speak Arabic. Participants with hearing or cognitive impairment were excluded from the study. Data were collected by the researcher using Socio-demographic form and the Stress, Anxiety and Depression Scale (DASS21) with face-to-face interviews. All analyses were conducted using (SPSS Statistics v.26). Descriptive statistics were used: frequencies, percentages, mean, standard deviation and nonparametric tests. The result showed that the majority of the study sample were in the age group of 41-60 years, 58.6% were male, 84.2% were married, 43.4% were illiterate, 52% had a low income level, 72.4% lived in the countryside, and 76.3% did not smoke. The patients had moderate depression (42.1%), normal anxiety (52%), and moderate stress (36.2%). Participants over 60 years of age were significantly more depressed, anxious, and stressed than other participants of different ages (p< 0.05). Participants with a high school/baccalaureate degree had significantly higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress than other participants with different educational levels (p< 0.05). Female, smoking and married participants had significantly higher scores of depression, anxiety, and stress compared to other participants. As a result of the study, it was found that ther level of depression and anxiety among CKD patients was moderate. Psychosocial support is recommended for this patient group