Psychiatric morbidity in long-term renal transplant recipients and patients undergoing hemodialysis. A comparative study

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Abstract
Psychiatric morbidity was assessed and compared psychiatric morbidity in long-term (5 yr or longer) renal transplant recipients and patients undergoing hemodialysis. Transplant recipients (57 of 98) and patients undergoing dialysis (44 of 89) returned questionnaires designed to collect demographic formation and to detect psychiatric morbidity. The 2 groups differed significantly only in that the patients undergong dialysis were both older and medically sicker than the transplant recipients. Almost 1/2 of the transplant group (46%) and the dialysis group (48%) could be identified as psychiatrically impaired either by their scores on the General Health Questionnaire or by a history of prior psychiatric treatment. The finding of nearly equivalent psychiatric morbidity in these 2 groups does not support the often-held notions about psychological advantages of transplantation over dialysis. Psychiatric morbidity in patients with chronic renal failure is high and appears not to be related to the choice of treatment.

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