Link Between Depression And Kidney Disease Identified

A new study finds that one in five patients with chronic kidney disease is depressed, even before beginning long-term dialysis therapy or developing end-stage renal disease.

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center conducted the first study to examine the relationship. Medical experts have noted that patients in the early stages of chronic kidney disease are at increased risk for clinical depression according to the study in the current issue of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases.

According to the American Association for Critical Illness insurance, some 26 million Americans have chronic kidney disease and millions more are at increased risk. If treatment does not begin early, the condition progresses to end-stage renal disease. At that point, a patient's kidneys have failed to the point where dialysis is needed. Dialysis involves filtering of toxic chemicals in the blood and removing fluid to help control blood pressure.

Previous research has shown that depression rates in the general community are 2 percent to 4 percent. Among diabetes patients, the rate is 11 percent. Among congestive heart failure patients, 14 percent; and among coronary artery disease after heart attack patients, 16 percent.

Chronic kidney disease patient depression numbers may be higher due to the presence of the same simultaneously occurring conditions that resulted in progressive kidney disease, such as diabetes and atherosclerotic vascular disease, one of the researchers noted.

Some 21 percent of those studied by researchers were found to be depressed. The mean age of depressed patients was about 65. The researchers also found that diabetic patients were twice as likely to be depressed as those without diabetes; 63 percent of patients had at least three other medical conditions; and 41 percent had at least four other diseases.

Expenditures for end-stage renal disease patients totaled $15.5 billion, which is approximately 6 percent of the entire Medicare budget, and are projected to consume $28 billion by 2010.

For more information on critical illness insurance and to learn the cost for this protection, visit the website of the American Association for Critical Illness Insurance where you can access a free cost calculator to look up rates for coverage starting at $10,000 and increasing to $50,000.