Anxiety, Depression and Emotional Profile in Renal Transplant Recipients and Healthy Subjects: A Comparative Study

Renal transplantation is a well-established treatment for end-stage renal disease. However, transplant recipients have been shown to develop emotional distress and affective disorders, such as anxiety and depression, associated with compromised quality of life. Some accounts report an improvement of affective disorder after transplantation, others draw opposite conclusions. A cross-sectional study selected 42 transplant recipients and 42 control subjects. The two groups were matched for gender, age, educational background and marital status. Symptoms of anxiety and depression and general emotional profiles were compared employing the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scale (ANPS), a self-report inventory that evaluates six neurally-based affective tendencies: seeking, caring, playfulness (Positive Affects), fear, anger and sadness (Negative Affects).No significant difference was found between transplanted patients and the control group in the scores for anxiety and depression, evaluated with the Zung and BDI scales. However, transplanted patients scored significantly lower than controls in the fear and anger scales, and in general negative emotions. Transplant recipients did not display symptoms of anxiety and depression. However, a significant reduction in negative affect, evaluated through ANPS scales, did reveal psychological distress. Present findings suggest the affective profile in transplanted patients should be more extensively examined and review all the facets covered in their mental and emotional assessment, especially in regard to the role played by this emotional pattern in complying with the medical treatment, which is well known to be a clinically critical feature of these patients.