Effects of Psychotherapy on Quality of Life in End-stage Renal Disease Patients: A Systematic Review with Meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective: Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) has experienced poorer quality of life (QoL). The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of psychotherapy on QoL among patients with ESRD. Methods: We conducted a systematic search for studies in MEDLINE, PubMed, and SAGE Journals databases from inception up to 10 April 2020. The inclusion criteria were studies with randomized controlled trial (RCT) design, patients with kidney disease, published in English language, and had full-text content. Two researchers independently conducted the extraction on the articles among patients with ESRD and also evaluated quality of each study. A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted, and data was presented in weighted mean difference (WMD) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: Eight studies were included in the systematic review and five were entered for metaanalysis. Compared with control group, the intervention group showed a significant difference for QoL, in both physical component summary (PCS) (WMD: 2.52 [95% CI: 0.48, 4.57]) and mental component summary (MCS) (WMD: 4.22 [95% CI: 1.54, 6.89]). The heterogeneity across studies for both PCS and MCS was found to be I 2 = 0%. Conclusion: The findings support that psychotherapy could improve QoL among patients with ESRD, as compared to control group. Therefore, psychotherapy should be considered as an essential component in improving ESRD patients’ health.