A study by Margaret Yu and colleagues from the University of Washington has found there are links between depression in diabetics and the development of End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD).
Nephropathy, kidney damage, is a major complication of diabetes, as the kidneys can be damaged by passing high levels of glucose as waste, and this damage causes renal disease, which often goes unnoticed until it reaches the dangerous end stage.
3900 diabetic adults were studied, and took an exam that would determine the presence of depression, and gauge the severity of it.
Depression apparently raises the risk of ESRD by 85% in diabetics, more than obesity or smoking raise it, according to Yu.
448 of the patients were diagnosed with major depression, and 327 were found to have minor depression.
The results were collected and analysed in terms of years of depression suffered by the patients, and found that 6.65 years out of every 1,000 showed a prevalence of ESRD. Compared to minor depression which indicated 4.30 years per 1000 patient years suffered ESRD, and those without depressions which was calculated at 2.7 years.
Diabetes burnout is a complication of the disease that occurs when patients become so stressed out with their constant treatment that they give up with it and run high blood sugar levels, and it is possible that this mental state is responsible for some of these results.
Yu and her colleagues wrote in the publication of their study, that as far as they are aware, this is the first study to actively link major depression with long term risk of ESRD.
