Uremic Pruritus: Prevalence and Impact on Quality of Life and Depressive Symptoms in Hemodialysis Patients

BackgroundEnd-stage renal disease (ESRD) is a major public health problem with many associated symptoms. Uremic pruritus (UP) develops in 40% of patients on hemodialysis and has major effects on the patient’s life. It is also an independent risk factor for increased mortality, and its psychiatric implications remain poorly characterized in our local setup, where it tends to be underdiagnosed and undertreated.Objectives and rationaleThe study aims to report the prevalence of uremic pruritus in our study population and associate it with various patient parameters, which may define a subset of patients at high risk for this pruritus. We also assess the effects of uremic pruritus on the patient’s quality of life (by using the Dermatology Life Quality Index; DLQI) and depressive symptoms (by using the Public Health Questionnaire; PHQ-9).Materials and methodsIt was a descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted in the nephrology unit of the multi-organ failure (MOF) center of the Holy Family Hospital (HFH), Rawalpindi, Pakistan, from February 2019 to June 2019, during which 173 male patients on hemodialysis were selected. Informed consent was taken from patients and other skin-related causes of pruritis were excluded. Uremic pruritus was defined as pruritis lasting for at least three months after the onset of ESRD. The 5-D, PHQ-9, and DLQI questionnaires were used to assess pruritis, depressive symptoms, and quality of life, respectively. Their Cronbach's Alpha values for 73 responses were 0.83, 0.81, and 0.71, respectively. The descriptive analysis was performed using SPSS v23.0 (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY, US). Spearman’s rank-order correlation, independent samples t-test, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze study variables.ResultsThe prevalence of uremic pruritus was 49.1%, with many patients having generalized itching. Unemployment and longer disease duration predisposed the patients towards uremic pruritus, as the mean 5-D score in this subset were greater (p