Background: Depression is common in dialysis patients, but the clinical impact of this condition is poorly defined.
Methods: Out of 57,703 patients starting dialysis during 2000-2007 recorded in the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan, we identified 2,475 patients with a clinical diagnosis of depression, and compared them with 1:5 age- and sex-matched patients without a depression diagnosis (n = 12,375). Patients were followed up for hospitalisation due to severe infections, major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) and death. Multivariable Cox regression and competing risk analyses (accounting for death when appropriate) were used to estimate risk associations.
Results: Patients with depression had a higher frequency of comorbidities. During a mean follow-up of 3.2 years, 1,140 severe infections, 806 MACE, and 1,121 deaths were recorded. Compared to controls, patients with depression were at increased risk of death (adjusted hazard ratio 1.24; 95%CI 1.16-1.33). Patients with depression were also at higher risk of severe (1.14; 1.06-1.22) and fatal infections (death within 30 days, 1.22; 1.09-1.35), attributed mainly to sepsis (1.19; 1.08-1.31), septic shock (1.36; 1.13-1.62) and pneumonia (1.19; 1.07-1.33). Conversely, no association was observed between depression and the MACE risk (1.04; 0.94-1.15).
Conclusion: Dialysis patients with depression are associated with increased risk of infections and death.