Background and purpose: Few studies have reported the impact of psychosocial aspects on quality of life (QOL) in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. People in Taiwan enjoy freedom of religious beliefs. We evaluated the possible role of religious activity on depression and QOL in PD patients.
Methods: Eighty six patients (29 males, 57 females; mean age, 48.3 years) receiving regular PD at National Taiwan University Hospital or Taipei Municipal Jen-Ai Hospital were asked to complete the 10-Question Survey assessing religious activity, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) rating severity of depression, and the 36-item Short Form Health Survey Questionnaire (Taiwan Standard Version 1.0) measuring QOL. Patients were categorized into 4 groups according to their religious status, namely: no religious faith; and low, medium, and high religious activity.
Results: For patients professing a religious faith, lower religious activity was correlated with lower QOL and higher BDI scores. These findings persisted after adjusting for possible confounding roles of gender, age, marital status, education, social activity, time on dialysis, and number of comorbid conditions. For patients having no religious faith, QOL as well as BDI scores were comparable with those of patients having high religious activity.
Conclusions: These results suggest that there may be a benefit to a moderate level of religious activity in chronic PD patients in Taiwan, and that such activity is associated with higher QOL and lower BDI scores.