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The following is a summary of “Depressive Symptoms, Antidepressants, and Clinical Outcomes in Chronic Kidney Disease: Findings from the CRIC Study,” published in the April 2024 issue of Nephrology by Hernandez et al.
Depression has been linked with affecting many diseases, such as chronic kidney disease (CKD), which may further lead to unknown adverse clinical outcomes.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study exploring the correlation between depressive symptoms (DS) and antidepressant medication use on clinical outcomes with nondialysis CKD.
They used the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) to measure DS in 4,839 adults who do not require dialyzes. Antidepressant use was identified from medication bottles and prescription lists of participants. After examining the individual effects of DS and antidepressants, the patients were categorized as follows: BDI<11 and no antidepressant use, BDI<11 with antidepressant use, BDI≥11 and no antidepressant use, and BDI≥11 with antidepressant use.
The result showed that 27.3% of participants had elevated DS at baseline, and 19.7% used antidepressants. Elevated DS at baseline was linked to a higher risk for an incident cardiovascular disease event, hospitalization, and all-cause mortality, but not CKD progression, adjusted for antidepressants. Antidepressant use is linked to higher mortality and hospitalization risks, even after adjusting for DS. Groups with elevated DS and/or antidepressant use faced increased risks of hospitalization compared to those without.
Investigators concluded that elevated DS raises adverse outcome risk in nondialysis CKD, unaffected by antidepressant use. Further exploration of antidepressant utilization and its effectiveness in this group is needed.
Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590059524000013
