Patients who have been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease and are suffering from depression are more likely to be hospitalized for dialysis treatment, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
A total of 267 patients with chronic kidney disease were enrolled in a one-year study, including 56 participants who had been diagnosed with major depression.
The results of the study found that approximately 61 percent of patients diagnosed with depression compared to 44 percent of patients without the mental disorder had died or were hospitalized for at least one year and underwent long-term dialysis. The researchers also discovered that 55 percent of the patients with depression were hospitalized as opposed to 40 percent of the individuals who didnt have depression.
Furthermore, approximately 27 percent of the depression patients needed regular dialysis while only 11 percent of patients without depression required the treatment.
“Chronic kidney disease patients with depression have poorer health outcomes than those without depression, even after adjusting for other factors that determine poor outcomes in these patients,” said Susan Hedayati, assistant professor of internal medicine at UT Southwestern. She added that “clinicians should consider screening chronic kidney disease patients for depression, especially since depression is also associated with poor quality of life.”
In 2006, more than 506,000 patients in the U.S. were being treated for end-stage renal disease, or kidney failure, according to the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse.