Diabetic patients who suffer from major depression may have an increased risk of kidney failure.
A new study measured the risk of kidney failure in diabetic individuals who struggle with depression, an American Society of Nephrology news release reported.
Depression is common in diabetic patients; in the past these symptoms have been associated with an increased risk of health consequences such as cardiovascular disease and premature death. This new study suggests a combination of diabetes and major depression could also lead to renal failure.
Researchers looked at 3,886 adults with diabetes who were covered under a health maintenance organization. The research team found that 11.5 percent of the patients had major depressive symptoms and 8.4 percent had minor symptoms. During a follow up period of 8.8 years 87 of the study subjects (or 2.2 percent) experienced kidney failure.
The findings suggest that diabetic patients with major depressive symptoms have an 85 percent higher chance of developing kidney failure after adjusting for additional risk factors such as "sex, race/ethnicity, marital status, education, smoking, body mass index, diabetes duration, baseline kidney function, hypertension, medication use, and adherence to diabetes self-care," the news release reported.
The study did not find a significant link between minor depressive symptoms and diabetics and 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 leader Doctor Margaret Yu, MD, MS, said in the news release. "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."
More research is needed to determine the mechanisms behind the association as well as if treating the depression would help lower the risk of kidney failure.
