Depression linked to CKD in patients with diabetes

(HealthDay)—For patients with diabetes, the presence of depression is associated with increased risk of developing chronic kidney disease (CKD), according to a study published online June 16 in Diabetes Care.

Marta Novak, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Toronto, and colleagues examined the correlation between depression and incident CKD, mortality, and incident cardiovascular events in U.S. veterans with diabetes. A total of 933,211 patients with diabetes were identified among a nationally representative prospective cohort of more than three million U.S. veterans with baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of ≥60 mL/min/1.73m². At enrollment, 340,806 patients had depression.

The researchers found that patients with depression were younger, had higher eGFR, and had more comorbidities. Overall, 180,343 patients developed incident CKD. The risk of incident CKD was increased with depression (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.20). Depression was also linked to elevated all-cause mortality (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.25).

"Intervention studies should determine if effective treatment of depression in diabetic patients would prevent major renal and cardiovascular complications," the authors write.