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End-stage renal disease (ESRD) is a growing public health concern and non-adherence to treatment has been associated with poorer health outcomes in this population. Depression, likely to be the most common psychopathology in such patients, is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. We compared psychological measures and self-reported medication adherence of 94 kidney transplant recipients to those of 65 patients receiving hemodialysis in a major medical center in Brooklyn, New York. Compared to the transplant group, the hemodialysis cohort was significantly more depressed as determined by the Beck Depression Inventory score. They also had a significantly lower adherence to medication as reported on the Medication Therapy Adherence Scale. Using hierarchical multiple regression analysis, the variance in depression was the only statistically significant predictor of medication adherence beyond gender and mode of treatment, accounting for an additional 12% of the variance. Our study strongly suggests that a depressive affect is an important contributor to low medication adherence in patients with ESRD on hemodialysis or kidney transplant recipients.

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND:In our previous prospective single-center study, using validated self-administered instruments, we demonstrated correlation between depression and nonadherence in recipients of kidney transplants. The purpose of this study was to confirm our finding that depression was associated with nonadherence in a large database of transplant recipients for which we used the United States Renal Data System (USRDS). METHODS:We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 32,757 Medicare primary renal transplant recipients in the USRDS who underwent transplantation from January 1, 2000 to July 31, 2004 and were followed up through December 31, 2004, assessing Medicare claims showing depression and nonadherence based on codes of the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision. RESULTS:Logistic regression analysis (adjusted hazards ratio 1.69 with 95% confidence interval, 1.48-1.92) and log rank test (P < .0005) showed that there was a strong association of depression and nonadherence. Depression was associated with nonadherence, irrespective of the time of depression, whether it was pretransplantation (P < .001) or posttransplantation (P < .001). Nonadherence was also associated with black race (P < .001), younger age (P < .001), less HLA mismatch (P < .005), recipients of living kidneys and patients who underwent transplantation a longer time ago (P < .001). Furthermore, patients with 12 or less years of education were more nonadherent (P < .001). Among the transplant donor factors we investigated, donor black race (P < .001) and expanded criteria donor kidneys were strongly associated with nonadherence (P < .001). However, donor age and delayed graft function were not significantly associated with nonadherence. CONCLUSIONS:Future clinical trials of immunosuppressive therapy should assess the impact of depression on graft survival.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES/OBJECTIVE:There is growing identification of the need to seriously study the psychiatric presentations of end-stage renal disease patients treated with hemodialysis. This study reports on the course of depression and anxiety diagnoses and their impact on quality of life and health status. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS/METHODS:The 16-mo course of psychiatric diagnoses in 50 end-stage renal disease patients treated with hemodialysis was measured by structured clinical interview. RESULTS:Three different pathways were identified: one subset of patients not having a psychiatric diagnosis at either baseline or 16-mo follow-up (68% for depression, 51% for anxiety), one group having an intermittent course (21% for depression, 34% for anxiety), and one group having a persistent course (11% for depression, 15% for anxiety), with diagnoses at both time 1 and time 2. For depression, the people with the persistent course showed marked decreases in quality of life and self-reported health status compared with the nondepressed and intermittently depressed cohorts. The most powerful predictor of depression at time 2 is degree of depressive affect at time 1(P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS:Patients at risk for short- and long-term complications of depression can be potentially identified by high levels of depressive affect even at a single time point. As nearly 20% of the sample had chronic depression or anxiety, identifying a psychiatric diagnosis in hemodialysis patients and then offering treatment are important because, in the absence of intervention, psychiatric disorders are likely to persist in a substantial proportion of patients.

BACKGROUND:Anxiety is a complicating comorbid diagnosis in many patients with medical illnesses. In patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), anxiety disorders often are perceived to represent symptoms of depression rather than independent conditions and therefore have been relatively understudied in this medical population. STUDY DESIGN/METHODS:To evaluate the psychosocial impact of anxiety disorders on patients with ESRD, we sought to identify the rates of these disorders in a sample of patients receiving hemodialysis at a single center by using a structured clinical interview. We also compared a commonly used screening measure, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), with these clinical diagnoses to determine the measure's criterion validity or ability to predict a psychiatric diagnosis in ESRD populations. Finally, we examined the relationship between anxiety diagnosis and perceptions of quality of life (QOL) and health status. SETTING & PARTICIPANTS/METHODS:A sample of 70 randomly selected hemodialysis patients from an urban metropolitan center. PREDICTOR/METHODS:Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) Axis I Diagnosis (SCID-I). OUTCOMES/RESULTS:HADS and Kidney Disease Quality of Life Short Form. RESULTS:Using the SCID, 71% of the sample received a DSM-IV Axis I diagnosis, with 45.7% of subjects meeting criteria for an anxiety disorder and 40% meeting criteria for a mood disorder. The concordance between DSM-IV anxiety disorders and anxiety scores acquired by using the HADS was not significant. Thus, although the HADS may provide an acceptable measure of overall "psychic distress" compared against the SCID-I, it has poor predictive power for anxiety diagnoses in patients with ESRD. Additionally, the presence of an anxiety disorder was associated with an overall perceived lower QOL (t = 2.4; P < 0.05). LIMITATIONS/CONCLUSIONS:Single-center study and a population not representative of US demographics. CONCLUSIONS:A substantial proportion of participating patients met criteria for an anxiety disorder. The utility of the HADS as a screening tool for anxiety in patients with ESRD should be questioned. The finding that anxiety disorders negatively impact on QOL and are not merely manifestations of depression in patients with ESRD emphasizes the importance of accurate diagnosis and effective treatment. Strategic options are necessary to improve the diagnosis of anxiety disorders, potentially enhancing QOL and medical outcome in patients with ESRD.

Depression is the most common psychological disorder in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients with a prevalence rate as high as 20% to 25% by some contemporary estimates. There are several studies linking depression with mortality in ESRD, making early diagnosis and treatment essential. The mechanisms linking depression with survival in ESRD patients are unclear but may be related to treatment compliance, improvement in nutritional parameters, increased perception of social support, and modulation of the immune system. Although the best methods for depression screening remain controversial, recent research has validated cutoff values for some of the more common depression screening questionnaires for evaluation in ESRD hemodialysis (HD) patients. A cutoff score of 14 to 16 for the Beck Depression Inventory is believed to have the most sensitivity and specificity at making the psychiatric diagnosis of depression in ESRD HD patients. There are limited data regarding the treatment of depression in ESRD patients. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, at initial low starting doses, may be used in close consultation with mental health providers if no active contraindication to their use exists. Data on the mechanisms linking depression and mortality and the optimal treatment of depression in ESRD patients await the performance of randomized controlled clinical trials.

Psychosocial issues are an understudied yet important concern in the overall health of hemodialysis (HD) patients. Stress is a concomitant of chronic illness and its treatment, and may have meaningful influences on psychological and medical outcomes. This article reviews the influences of psychopathology, social support, family issues, dialysis unit culture, and socioeconomic status on patients treated with center HD. Depressive affect and decreased perception of social support have been linked with mortality in several studies of ESRD patients. Decreased marital satisfaction, disturbances in family dynamics, and lower socioeconomic status (SES) have been associated with poorer health outcomes and can affect patients' perception of social support and depressive affect. Chronically ill ESRD patients who undergo treatment with constant interaction and observation by medical staff are potentially an ideal group for evaluation of the effects of stress and psychosocial factors on outcomes in those with chronic disease, as well as an excellent patient population for intervention to reduce morbidity and mortality. These interactions between potentially modifiable psychosocial risk factors for disease and medical aspects of illness form a paradigm for the study of interventions related to adjustment to chronic illness in the ESRD population.