Depression is frequently reported in long-term dialysis patients. A study published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases aimed to determine the prevalence of major depressive episodes and other psychiatric illnesses in kidney disease patients.
 
Researchers studied more than 270 participants in different stages of kidney disease. The study found one in five participants experienced some sort of major depressive episode. The data also suggested kidney disease patients should be screened routinely for depression given this high prevalence and the association of depression with poor outcomes in dialysis patients.
 
For more information about depression in kidney disease, read AAKP's Understanding Depression in Kidney Disease or When Your Loved One is Depressed brochures.

This article originally appeared in the July 2009 issue of Renal Flash.