A Reanalysis of Historical Figures With Depression and Dropsy

Recent studies suggest a link between chronic kidney disease and brain dysfunctions such as depression and cognitive problems. A review of medieval and early-modern historical figures with aspects of both kidney disease (gout and edema [dropsy]) and depression (melancholia) shows that these conditions were observed together in the past.

References to the diseases of gout, dropsy, and melancholia were compared in literature on historical subjects. Case studies are reported to detail a previously unremarked com-bination of current kidney disease and depression comorbidity in historical writings.

The poet Boccaccio had gout and melancholia, and some descendants of the Portuguese Avis and Spanish Trastàmara dynasties, known for melancholia and madness, also had gout and dropsy. Historical case series of causes of death for sultans of the Ottoman Empire suggest an association among dropsy, gout, and melancholia.

In this article, we reviewed the medical research on the comorbidity of kidney disease and depression and shared case studies of historical figures with these conditions and posit not previously noted data supporting comorbidity observations in historical writings.