Factors Influencing Self-Management among Patients Receiving Maintenance Hemodialysis

Research Article

Austin Public Health. 2025; 9(1): 1025.

Factors Influencing Self-Management among Patients Receiving Maintenance Hemodialysis

Jiang D¹, Zhou Y², Wang MH¹, Hu ZL¹, Sun L¹* and Chen Y¹*

¹The Eighth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Shenzhen, China

²The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510150, China

*Corresponding author: Lin Sun, The Eighth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Shenzhen, China Tel: 0755_83982222; Email: 13688808739@163.com

Yuan Chen, The Eighth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Shenzhen, China Tel: 0755_83982222; Email: 281984897@qq.com

Received: June 12, 2025 Accepted: June 24, 2025 Published: June 27, 2025

Abstract

Objective: To assess self-management and its influencing factors among patients receiving hemodialysis.

Method: Applying random sampling method, 180 patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) were included from February 2022 to June 2022 from a hemodialysis center of the tertiary university-affiliated hospital in Southern China. The self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) and self -rating depression scale (SDS) were administered to evaluate anxiety and depression. A self-management questionnaire was applied to assess the capacity of selfmanagement. Demographic data and laboratory tests were assessed to inform the influencing factors on self-management in the MHD patients.

Result: The incidences of anxiety and depression were 34.89% and 30.02%, respectively, and the mean score of self-management was (55.51±11.22) in the MHD patients. More than half (57.8%) of the patients had low score of selfmanagement. Monthly income, education level, duration of dialysis, plasma albumin (ALB), anxiety and depression were significant factors influencing selfmanagement among patients receiving MHD (P<0.05).

Conclusion: Self-management in MHD patients is at an intermediate level, especially among those who have low education level, poor economic status, disadvantaged nutritional condition, as well as unstable emotion. Tailored strategies should be developed to achieve better outcome for the patients undergoing MHD.

Keywords: Self-management; Maintenance hemodialysis; Depression; Anxiety.

Introduction

In recent years, prevalence of diabetes and hypertension is increasing, at the same time, the number of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) has also increased. Previous studies [1,2] showed that the global prevalence of CKD has been risen to 13.4% (11.7-15.1%). Hemodialysis is the predominant form of ESRD renal replacement therapy, about 89% of ESRD patients worldwide are treated with hemodialysis therapy [3,4]. The population of patients initiating and living with MHD is increasing each year in China. The Chinese National Renal Data System (CNRDS) disclosed that prevalent MHD patients in China, the number of MHD patients in China will far exceed 900,000, and the number of new patients will exceed 180,000 which increased from 174.1 PMP in 2011 to 635 PMP in 2023. MHD has the characteristics of high cost in healthcare, poor prognosis, and long duration. It has become a global public health problem that affects patient’s physical and mental health and increases socio-economic burden [5]. The current alternative treatments for CKD mainly include peritoneal dialysis, hemodialysis and kidney transplantation. In China, about 88.2% of patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) are treated with maintenance hemodialysis (MHD). The patients need not only routine hemodialysis every week under certain management of vascular access, but also strictly diet control, regular medication. All of these practices require good selfmanagement for the patients.

Self-management can be defined as the patient's active efforts to monitor and participate in the care process to optimize their health. Molnar [6] pointed out that individual activities are interacted and mutually influenced by three variables, e.g. cognition, behavior, and environment. They consist of four aspects: self-care, self-solving problems, cooperation with healthcare givers, and self-emotional management. Some studies [7,8] have demonstrated that good self-management has positive impact on the health status, such as improving clinical outcomes and quality of life, reducing the incidence of complications, and changing self-behavior in ESRD patients. Current studies have confirmed that the level of self-management of ESRD patients in China is still relatively low. However, for the special period during the epidemic, such as the restriction of patients' travel, irregular dialysis treatment and home isolation, the changes in patients' self-management ability and the influencing factors of patient self-management are still unacceptable, which is one of the important factors affecting the prognosis of patients.

Many factors [9,10] affect the self-management of MHD patients, including age, income, education level, family support and complications. The worldwide pandemic of COVID-19 has been lasted for almost three years, to prevent the virus spreading and transmission, keeping social distance, limiting social activity, and avoiding people gathering are the suggestions in the prevention and control of COVID-19. Under this condition, MHD patients experienced the alteration in personal activities, income, dialysis environment and social support. It is unclear whether these changes would affect the capacity of self-management, and the incidence of anxiety and depression in the MHD patients. The study aimed to explore the association between anxiety, depression and self-management, as well as the factors affecting the capacity of self-management in the MHD patients. Hopefully, the study result could provide some suggestions in enhancing the capacity of self-management and improving the prognosis in the patients.

Subjects and Methods

Study Design

A cross-sectional survey.

Study Subjects

The subjects were the ESRD patients, who underwent maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) and received long-term dialysis from February 2022 to June 2022 in the Eighth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University. A total of 180 patients were included in the study.

The inclusion criteria: (1) were maintenance hemodialysis patients; (2) agreed to participate in the research; (3) were able to read or understand the content of the survey questionnaire, and communicate orally or in writing. The exclusion criteria: (1) had history of mental and neurological diseases, long-term alcohol or drug abuse; (2) had cognitive impairment or severe visual impairment; (3) were unable to answer the questions of questionnaire; (4) had critical illnesses.

Outcome Assessments

Demographic and Clinical Parameters: The general demographic information was obtained through a self-designed questionnaire filled up by the subjects. The content of questionnaire included gender, age, monthly income, education level, medical insurance, whether have feeling of pain, duration of dialysis, vascular access of dialysis, and whether worried about being infected by COVID-19.

Self-management Ability: Questionnaire of self-management ability was designed by Li [12] and applied to evaluate the capacity of self-management in the subjects. The Cronbach's a coefficient was 0.87, each question was divided into four levels, ranging from 1 (never) to 4 (always), and the Cronbach's a coefficients of the four subscales were 0.76, 0.79, 0.78, and 0.70, respectively. The scores of >80, 60-80, and <60 represented as high, medium, and low capacity levels of the subjects respectively.

Anxiety: self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) designed by Zung [11] was used to assess anxiety status of the subjects. Cronbach's a coefficient was 0.823. The scale contained 20 items (15 items positive points and 5 negative points) that reflected the anxiety status of the patients. Each question was divided into four levels. Respondents rated how they felt about the past week on a scale of 1 (none or little) to 4 (most or all of the time). The total score of the scale was 80 points, while scores of <50, 50-59, 60-69, and >69 represented as none, mild, moderate and severe anxiety respectively.

Depression: Self-rating depression scale (SDS) designed by Zung [11] was used to evaluate the depression status of the subjects. This scale also consisted of 20 items (10 positive points and 10 negative points) with a 4-point-scales ranging from 1 (none or few times) to 4 (most or all times). The total score of the scale was also 80 points, while scores of <50, 50-59, 60-69, and >69 represented as none, mild, moderate and severe depression respectively.

Each participant completed the questionnaire through We Chat, a widely used social media APP in China. The questionnaire was anonymous to ensure the confidentiality and reliability of the data.

Data Analysis

The SPSS 22.0 was used to analyze all of the data. Continuous variables were presented as mean ± SD. Differences between subgroups were compared using one-way ANOVA. Significantly different variables were further analyzed through multivariate logistic regression analysis. Estimates of association strength were demonstrated by odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Spearman's correlation coefficient (r) was used to assess the association between demographic data and clinical parameters and levels of anxiety, depression, and self-management of the subjects. A P-value less than 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.

Ethical Considerations

This cross-section study was approved by the Biomedical Ethics Committee of the eighth affiliated hospital of Sun Yat-Sen university (IRB No. 2022-08-03). And the informed consent was obtained for all patients.

Results

Demographic and Clinical Parameters

Among the 180 participants, there were 96 men (53.3%) and 84 women (46.7%), of which, 62.8% (113) were older than 50 years, 46.7% (84) had less than 10,000 RMB monthly income, 49.4% (89) had been undergone dialysis for more than three years, 58.3% (105) of the subjects worried about being infected by COVID-19, 48.3% (87) complained pain, more than two thirds (130, 72.2%) had health insurance, 70.6% (127) of the patients were using arteriovenous fistula (AVF) as their vascular access for dialysis (Table 1).