Alexithymia Construct in Dialysis Patients

Abstract

Abstract Introduction. The concept of alexithymia means dysfunction in emotional awareness, social attachment, and interpersonal relating. The study was performed to evaluate the alexithymia construct in patients treated with chronic maintenance haemodialysis. Methods. TAS-20 was applied as a measure of alexithymia to a group of 230 patients, mean age 55.5±13.5 years, recruited from three dialysis centers. Results. The results obtained showed that 50% of patients were alexithymic, and 18% had possible alexithy-mia. A small positive correlation was shown between age and obtained scores for alexithymia (r=0.025). Duration of dialysis also positively influenced the alexithymia scores (r=0.013). In addition, the duration of dialysis was significantly influenced by age (ANOVA 0.004, p<0.05). Factors analysis showed that F1 and F2 were not influenced by age or duration of dialysis. Only factor F3 (externally oriented thinking) was very perceptible and influenced by the age and the duration of dialysis (ANOVA p=0.016; <0.05). No significant differences in scores between males and females were obtained. Only F1 was higher in males (p<0.05). The scores obtained for alexithymia were compared between healthy population and cancer and dialysis patients. Patients with chronic diseases were more alexithymic than healthy people (p< 0.05). Conclusions. The alexithymia construct is a permanent personality trait related to neurobiological brain specifics. An alexithymia construct can influence the prognosis and outcome of dialysis patients as well as of other diseases. The psychological support for mediating alexithy-mia should be included in the therapeutic protocols, especially for end-stage renal diseases.