Quality of life and functional capacity in depressive patients on hemodialysis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Depression is a common disorder in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), and some data support its relationship with functional capacity and quality of life. However, to date, this has not been evaluated systematically or through meta-analysis. We sought to investigate the relationship of quality of life and functional capacity with depressive disorder in patients with CKD on hemodialysis. This systematic review considered studies published up to 2021 and included cross-sectional and cohort studies. PubMed, Embase, SPORTDiscus, Web of Science, and Cochrane (CENTRAL) databases were used to search for studies. The New Castle-Ottawa Quality Assessment scale was used to measure the quality of the studies. A total of 4,626 studies were found and, after applying the selection criteria, 16 studies (2,175 patients) remained for qualitative analysis and 10 for meta-analysis (1,484 patients). The physical component summary (MD=-6.563; 95%CI: −9.702 to −3.424) and mental component summary (MD=-18.760; 95%CI: −28.641 to −8.879) were lower in depressive patients, as in all Short Form Health Survey 36 (SF-36) domains. Only one study provided data regarding functional capacity, but it was not evaluated by the defined outcome measure. Twelve studies were classified as “moderate quality” (5 to 6 stars) and four were classified as “low-quality” (0 to 4 stars). This meta-analysis with CKD patients on hemodialysis showed a negative relationship between depression and quality of life, with worsening in all physical and mental domains of the SF-36 in depressed patients.

Kidney failure; Chronic; Renal dialysis; Depression; Meta-analysis