Depression May Increase Kidney Failure in Diabetics

Namita Nayyar (WF Team)

10 years ago

Depression May Increase Kidney Failure in Diabetics?

– Reported April 01, 2014

A new study at the University of Washington revealed major depression could increase diabetics risk of kidney failure. People with diabetes have a high prevalence of depressive symptoms, which has been linked to cardiovascular disease and premature death.

For the investigation, researchers studied 3886 adults with diabetes. A total of 448 (11 percent) of patients had major depression symptoms. The other 327 (8 percent) had minor depressive symptoms. During a follow-up, 87 patients (2 percent) developed kidney failure. Diabetics with major depressive symptoms had an 85 percent risk of developing kidney failure. Minor depressive symptoms were not significantly linked to development of kidney failure.

This is the first study to show that major depressive symptoms are associated with a higher risk of kidney failure in patients with diabetes, study author Margaret Yu, MD, MS, was quoted as saying. As an observational cohort study, we can only identify an association between major depressive symptoms and kidney failure; additional studies are needed to determine whether treatment of depression can reduce the risk of kidney failure.

SOURCE: Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, March 2014