Depression, chronic kidney disease linked

U.S. researchers say one in five patients with chronic kidney disease may be depressed.

The study, published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, also found kidney patients with diabetes are twice as likely to be depressed as those without diabetes.

When structured clinical interviews were conducted for 272 chronic kidney disease patients — all veterans and all voluntary study participants –the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas researchers found 57 patients currently undergoing a major depressive episode.

Study lead author Dr. Susan Hedayati suggests the high 21 percent depression rate among kidney disease patients may be linked to other occurring conditions — that resulted in progressive kidney disease — such as diabetes and atherosclerotic vascular disease.

Alternatively, patients such as diabetics, who are depressed, may develop progressive kidney disease because of non-adherence to medications and physicians’ advice, Hedayati said in a statement.