Disease Perception Predicts Pain in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease
Disease perception plays a major role in explaining the distress of CKD compared to other traditional covariates. For this reason, disease perception should be treated as a major modifiable factor in the development of CKD distress.
Muscat, P., Weinman, J., Farrugia, E., et al. Disease perception predicts distress in patients with chronic kidney disease. BMC Psychol 9, 75 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-021-00572-z
Commentary
This study aimed to assess the level of distress and the nature of cognition in patients diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD). This is because patients who are determined to have CKD report increased distress associated with the clinical diagnosis, and these distresses have been suggested to be associated with several adverse events. To assess the nature of disease perceptions and levels of distress in a CKD cohort diagnosed with various stages of kidney disease, correlates of distress were investigated and models of distress and associated predictors were created using hierarchical regression analysis.
A sample of 200 patients diagnosed with chronic kidney disease were recruited for this study from the renal outpatient clinic at MaterDei Hospital in Malta, and their perceptions of the disease, treatment beliefs, levels of depression and anxiety, coping styles, and adherence to treatment. Routine clinical information, including comorbidity scores, was collected.
Although the results were similar to those described above, there are a number of weaknesses in this study that need to be addressed. First, the sample was all collected from local renal outpatient clinics, thus capturing service users who only use government services, and because it was a cross-sectional study, it is not possible to infer causality.
However, they said that the questionnaire was completed in the presence of the PI, the data was well matched, and the clinical markers were collected in agreement with the psychological markers, so it was useful in that it produced a good sample of pre-dialysis CKD participants, a good consent rate, and a questionnaire.
