Correlations between uncertainty in illness and anxiety, depression and quality of life in patients receiving maintenance haemodialysis: A cross-sectional study.
Jingxia Cheng, Dongju Yang, Qiantao Zuo and 3 others
PMID 35088576WHAT IT FOUND
In 396 maintenance haemodialysis patients, uncertainty about illness was associated with anxiety, depression and lower quality of life.
Unpredictability scored highest among uncertainty themes. Association is not proof of cause.
Key findings
01Mean uncertainty in illness was 78.16, which falls in the moderate category.
02Unpredictability had the highest mean item score among uncertainty dimensions (3.41).
03Total uncertainty was positively correlated with anxiety (r = 0.416) and depression (r = 0.434), and inversely correlated with quality of life domains (r = -0.231 to -0.426).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study measured everything at one time point, so it cannot show that uncertainty caused anxiety, depression or poor quality of life. It used a convenience sample from four hospitals in one Chinese province, so the patients may not represent other dialysis populations. It excluded patients with prior psychological illness, cognitive impairment, cancer or other serious disease, so it says little about more complex dialysis patients. Anxiety and depression were measured with self-reported scales, not confirmed by formal psychiatric assessment. The study did not use qualitative interviews, so it does not explain what patients' uncertainty felt like or why it arose.
Declared interests
The authors declared no competing or potential conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat this as evidence that reducing uncertainty will reduce anxiety, depression or poor quality of life. The study measured variables at one time point and found correlations, not a tested intervention.