Abstract: Objective: To analyze the prevalence of depression in maintenance hemodialysis patients in our dialysis center and its related factors by cross-sectional study. Methods: Beck Depression Inventory(BDI) was used to assess the depression occurred in patients of our dialysis center. According to the BDI score, patients were divided into normal group (BDIs≤10) and emotional disorders group(BDIs>10). The prevalence of depression and related factors were analyzed in these two groups. Results: Of the 109 maintenance hemodialysis patients, 100 completed the questionnaires, with a completion rate of 91.7%. There were 60 males and 40 females, with an average age of (58±14) years (27-86 years), and an average dialysis age of (43±39) months (3-165 months). There were 69 cases in normal group and 31 cases in emotional disorder group (16 cases with 10<BDIs≤15, 9 cases with 15<BDIs≤25 and 6 cases with BDIs>25); 15 cases had depression(15.0%). There were no statistical differences in age, dialysis age, education, family support, arrangement of dialysis, dialysis related complications, hemoglobin, serum albumin, iPTH and spKt/V between the two groups, the only difference was the proportion of females (P<0.05). The linear regression equation showed that the BDI score was negatively correlated with spKt/V (r=-0.27, P<0.05). Conclusions: The prevalence of depression in maintenance hemodialysis patients in our dialysis center is high, especially in female patients. Inadequate dialysis might increase the severity of depression in the patients.Regular screening of depression at dialysis center is helpful for early detection of emotional disorders in dialysis patients, and early psychological intervention and drug treatment could be taken to improve the quality of life in dialysis patients.

Key words: End stage renal disease, Hemodialysis, Depression