BACKGROUND: Nephrotic syndrome (NS) is a common clinical disease with four main 
clinical manifestations: hypoalbuminemia (<30 g/L), macro-proteinuria (>3.5 g/24 
h), edema, and hyperlipidemia. There is a variety of pathological types that are 
associated with NS. Percutaneous renal biopsy (PRB) plays an important role in 
clinical practice in that it can be used to establish a histological diagnosis, 
to provide information for an ultimate NS diagnosis, and subsequent prognosis. 
Our aim was to observe the psychological status of patients with NS before and 
after PRB and investigate the factors affecting their psychological status.
METHODS: Two hundred and thirty-five patients with NS were enrolled in the 
present study. We evaluated the psychological status of patients 24 hours before 
and 6 hours after PRB by using the Symptom Check List-90 and State-Trait Anxiety 
Inventory.
RESULTS: We analyzed the factors affecting the psychological status of the study 
participants before and after this important NS procedure. Before the PRB 
procedure was administered, the factorial anxiety and phobic anxiety scores were 
higher than normal (p < 0.0.5). After PRB, only anxiety was determined to be 
higher than normal in the somatization score (p < 0.05). In general, there were 
higher scores among males rather than the female study participants (p < 0.05). 
Scores of all indices decreased significantly in all patients after PRB (p < 
0.05).
CONCLUSION: Psychological status was common in patients who underwent PRB and 
were affected by many factors.