Study: Home Hemo Patients Have Less Depression

These interim results from the FREEDOM study compared patients' baseline and 12-month Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), a validated, commonly-used score reflecting depressive symptoms. The 12-month BDI data also focuses on patients with scores greater than 15, which are suggestive of moderate to severe depressive symptoms. Twelve-month BDI data from the FREEDOM study showed:

* 24.6 percent of patients involved in the study had a BDI score greater than 15 at baseline (in-center therapy) compared to only 17.5 percent of patients at 12 months of daily home hemodialysis therapy.

* A nearly 50-percent improvement in mean BDI scores occurred for patients with moderate to severe depressive symptoms.

* Baseline BDI scores did not significantly differ amongst patients who did not complete 12 month follow-up compared to those who did, indicating that there was no biased selection in the compilation of data.