Depression among patients with chronic kidney disease, associated factors, and predictors: a cross-sectional study

Depression with diverse etiologies is exacerbated by chronic diseases, such as chronic kidney disease (CKD), coronary artery disease (CAD), cancer, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. This study aimed to analyse depression, its associations, and predictors among patients attending the kidney clinic of a teaching hospital.

Data were collected from 01 August 2017 to 30 September 2017 via face-to-face interviews and examination of the medical records of a convenience sample of 314 patients. The patients were categorised broadly as stages I and II with an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) > 60 mls/min/1.73 m², and with stages III, IV, and V or GFR ≤ 60 mls/ min/1.73 m² (or CKD). The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-9 was the data collection instrument for depression-related data.

Participants were predominantly male (n = 179; 57.0%), aged over 60 years (n = 211; 67.2%), Indo-Trinbagonian (n = 237; 75.5%), and with stages III, IV, and V CKD. The two leading comorbid conditions were hypertension (83.4%) and diabetes mellitus (56.1%). Of the 261 (83.1%) patients with recorded eGFR, 113 (43.3%) had Stage III CKD. The mean depression (PHQ-9) score was 13.0/27 (±9.15), with 306 (97.5%) patients diagnosed as having depression with the following severities: mild (n = 116; 37.9%), moderate (n = 138, 45.1%), moderately severe (n = 38; 12.4%), and severe (n = 14; 4.6%). Depression was independent of sex. Nine sociodemographic variables were associated with depression; however, 'level of education', was the only predictor of depression with greater severity associated with lower levels of education. eGFR was negatively correlated with the PHQ-9 scores (Pearson's correlation, r = -0.144, p = 0.022). At least 78.3% of the patients who self-reported no depression had clinical depression (moderate, moderately severe, or severe) PHQ-9 scores ≥ 10.

Depression was a significant comorbidity among patients with CKD, with the majority displaying clinical depression. "Level of education" was the only predictor of depression. Self-reported depression is an unreliable method for evaluating clinical depression.