Psychological Distress Is Prevalent and Interdependent Among Patients With Decompensated Cirrhosis and Their Caregivers
Nneka N. Ufere, Chengbo Zeng, John Donlan, Daniel Shalev, Alyson Kaplan, Alan Noll, A. Liu, Kedie Pintro, Nora Horick, Teresa Indriolo, Lucinda Li, Enya Zhu, Malia E. Armstrong, Nancy A. Mason, Kirsten G. Engel, Michaela Rowland, Karen O’Brien, Sara Kenimer, Michelle S. Diop, Vicki A. Jackson, Jennifer C. Lai, Raymond T. Chung, Jamie M. Jacobs, Maria Orlando Edelen, Areej El‐Jawahri
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Little is known about the interdependence of psychological distress among patients with decompensated cirrhosis and their caregivers. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, we examined the interdependence of psychological distress (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) among 127 patient-caregiver dyads using Actor-Partner Interdependence Modeling. RESULTS: Among dyads, 26% had both partners reporting clinically significant anxiety and 18% reporting clinically significant depression. Caregiver anxiety significantly predicted patient depression (standardized β = 0.18, P = 0.03). DISCUSSION: Psychological distress was prevalent and interdependent among dyads. These results underscore the need to develop interventions to reduce psychological distress in both patients with decompensated cirrhosis and their caregivers.