Diabetes Patients with Major Depression Have Increased Risk for Kidney Failure

However, minor depression did not appear to significantly impact renal disease outcomes for diabetes patients. When researchers followed 3,886 adults with diabetes for a median of 8.8 years, they found that major depressive symptoms were associated with a higher risk of incident end-stage renal disease (ESRD). "To our knowledge this is the first study to show an association between major depressive symptoms and long-term ESRD risk in this population," lead researcher Margaret Yu, MD, MS, of the University of Washington, Seattle, and colleagues wrote. Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology