Diabetes patients suffering major depression were nearly twice as likely to experience end-stage kidney disease, according to a study by the University of Washington School of Public Health and the VA Puget Sound Health Care System. The study was published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. Senior author was Dr. Bessie Young, adjunct associate professor of epidemiology and health services at the School of Public Health.

Researchers studied nearly 4,000 adults with diabetes for more than eight years; 11.5 percent of patients had major depressive symptoms, 8.4 percent had minor symptoms, and 2.2 patients developed end-stage renal failure. Patients with major depression symptoms had an 85 percent higher risk of developing kidney failure, after adjusting for various factors including, age, sex, and ethnicity. Minor depression was not significantly liked with kidney failure, the study found.

Researchers said this was the first study to associate major depression with higher risk of kidney failure in patients with diabetes. Additional studies are needed to determine whether treatment of depression can reduce the risk of kidney failure, they said.