The haemodialysis, one of the main treatment modalities of chronic renal failure, imposes a great psychosocial burden on elderly patients, which may cause many psychological impacts.

The aim of this study was to screen anxiety and depression in elderly patients on haemodialysis, taking into account factors that may contribute to.

Our study was transversal, descriptive carried out among 38 elderly patients aged more than 60 years with chronic kidney failure on haemodialysis. The structured questionnaire used in this study was gathered information on socio-demographic and disease characteristics. We used the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) to access anxiety and depression.

The mean age of our sample was 71 years. The sex-ratio (♂/♀) was 1.92.,patients were mainly married (73.7%), and have a low school level (76.3%). The mean haemodialysis duration was 5 years ± 4.68. The most common cause of renal failure was polycystic kidney disease (18.4%), diabetes (15.8%), while in 28.9% the cause was unknown. Anxiety was found in 18.4% of patients and it was associated with both low school (P = 0.02) and socio-economic level (P = 0.04). The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 42.1%. It was correlated to the unknown cause of kidney failure and the short duration haemodialysis (P = 0.03).

These data suggest that depression and anxiety are highly prevalent in elderly patients with renal failure on dialysis. This result shows the need for interdisciplinary teamwork in improving the quality of life of those patients.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.