Post-traumatic stress symptoms in hemodialysis patients with MERS-CoV exposure

Cho, A Jin; Lee, Hong-Seock; Lee, Young-Ki; Jeon, Hee Jung; Park, Hayne Cho; Jeong, Da-Wun; Kim, Yang-Gyun; Lee, Sang-Ho; Lee, Chang-Hee; Yoo, Kyung Don; Wong, Ae Kyeong

Of the 89 HD patients, 67 (75.3%) completed the questionnaires. Comparisons of respondents and nonrespondents are shown in Supplementary Table 1 . There was no significant difference between the two groups. The participants' mean age was 62.6 years; 46 (68.7%) were men, 31 (46.3%) had diabetes, and 3 (4.4%) had a history of cardiovascular disease. The mean isolation period following exposure was 14.8 days. Single room isolation was implemented for 40 (58.8%) subjects; cohort isolation, for 20 (29.4%); and self-imposed quarantine, for 8 (11.8%) subjects. Figure 1 shows the prevalence of IES-R-K≧18 by isolation method. A total of 12 (17.9%) participants reported stress symptoms with IES-R-K scores exceeding cut-off point. Nine out of 40 patients (22.5%) in a single-room isolation group, 3 of 19 patients (15.8%) in a cohort-isolation group and none of the subjects in the self-imposed quarantine group were shown to have post-traumatic stress with IES-R-K≧18. The prevalence rate of IES-R-K≧18 did not differ significantly (P = 0.3) between the single-room and cohortisolation groups. Table 1 shows a comparison of participants by IES-R-K cutoff point. Women and patients who had a shorter duration of isolation were more likely to develop symptoms of IES-R-K≧18.