Effect of a yoga intervention on depression, anxiety, and sleep in patients on hemodialysis -- A pilot study.

Background: Patients on hemodialysis (HD) suffer from poor psychological outcomes including depression, anxiety disorders, poor sleep quality, and decreased quality of life. Yoga has been found to have a positive effect on psychological outcomes in the general population, however, few studies have been conducted with the HD population. Purpose: The two major aims of this study are: (1) to report the findings of the effect of a chair yoga intervention on psychological outcomes (anxiety, depression, and sleep quality) in a pilot study of 31 patients on HD, and (2) to explain the underlying theoretical framework that guides the study. Methods: A quasi-experimental prospective pilot study was conducted in 31 participants from four HD units in the American Midwest. Participants in the intervention group were instructed to participate in a prerecorded 20-minute chair yoga session three times weekly for four weeks. The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were used to measure depression, anxiety, and sleep at baseline and four weeks. Results: The majority of the sample were males (n = 10, 52%), Caucasian (n = 12, 63%), and the average age was 65 years (SD = 14.43). The attrition rate in the chair yoga intervention was 53% (n = 10) and 17% (n = 2) in the standard care group. There was a significant decrease in depression scores in the intervention group compared to the control group F(1, 17) = 6.21, p = .023. Although non-significant, there was also a trend towards an improvement in anxiety and sleep quality scores in the intervention group compared to the control group. Conclusion: Yoga can be used as a complementary intervention to help improve depression, anxiety, and sleep quality in patients receiving chronic HD. Findings from this study lend support for The Systems Network Model of Yoga for Optimizing Self-Regulation. Further studies are warranted to validate findings.