There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.
Abstract
We sought to determine the prevalence of psychiatric illness in hospitalized patients
with end-stage renal disease. We also examined the association between end-stage renal
disease treatment modality and risk of hospitalization with a diagnosis of a mental
disorder, and compared rates of hospitalization with a diagnosis of psychiatric illness
in renal failure patients to patients with other chronic medical illnesses.
We performed a cohort study of all Medicare-enrolled dialysis patients in 1993. Risk
of hospitalization with a diagnosis of a mental disorder among renal failure patients
was compared with Medicare patients with diabetes mellitus, ischemic heart disease,
cerebrovascular disease, and peptic ulcer disease.
Almost 9% of all dialysis patients were hospitalized with a mental disorder. Men,
African-Americans, and younger patients were more likely to be hospitalized with a
mental disorder. The adjusted risk of hospitalization for peritoneal dialysis patients
was lower compared with hemodialysis patients for any mental disorder, depression,
and alcohol and drug use. Hospitalization with mental disorders was 1.5 to 3.0 times
higher for renal failure patients compared with other chronically ill patients.
Hospitalization with a psychiatric illness is common among the US end-stage renal
disease population. Depression, dementia and drug-related disorders were especially
common. The coexistence of psychiatric illness in patients with renal failure who
require specialized medical regimens represents a challenge to nephrologists in diagnosis
and treatment. Disparities between hospitalization rates of psychiatric illnesses
among end-stage renal disease patients compared with other chronically ill populations
warrant further research.