Somatic Symptoms of Depression Lose Association with Mortality upon Adjustment for Frailty: Analysis from the Fitness Haemodialysis Cohort

Benjamin M Anderson; Muhammad Qasim; Gonzalo Correa; Felicity Evison; Suzy Gallier; Charles J Ferro; Thomas A Jackson; Adnan Sharif

doi:10.1155/2023/4518843

Somatic Symptoms of Depression Lose Association with Mortality upon Adjustment for Frailty: Analysis from the Fitness Haemodialysis Cohort

Int J Nephrol. 2023 Jun 21:2023:4518843. doi: 10.1155/2023/4518843. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Benjamin M Anderson^{1

2}, Muhammad Qasim^{1

3}, Gonzalo Correa⁴, Felicity Evison⁵, Suzy Gallier^{5

6}, Charles J Ferro^{1

7}, Thomas A Jackson^{2

8}, Adnan Sharif^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nephrology and Transplantation, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK.
² Institute of Inflammation and Ageing, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
³ Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
⁴ Department of Nephrology, Hospital del Salvador, Santiago, Chile.
⁵ Department of Health Informatics, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK.
⁶ PIONEER HDR-UK Hub in Acute Care, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK.
⁷ Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
⁸ Department of Healthcare for Older People, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK.

Abstract

Introduction: The somatic symptom component of depression is associated with increased hospitalisation and mortality and poorer health-related quality of life (HRQOL). However, the relationship of subsets of depression symptoms with frailty and outcomes is not known. This study aimed to (1) explore the relationship between the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) and components of depression and (2) their association with mortality, hospitalisation, and HRQOL in haemodialysis recipients.

Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study of prevalent haemodialysis recipients, with deep bio-clinical phenotyping including CFS and PHQ-9 somatic (fatigue, poor appetite, and poor sleep) and cognitive component scores. EuroQol EQ-5D summary index assessed HRQOL at the baseline. Electronic linkage to English national administration datasets ensured robust follow-up data for hospitalisation and mortality events. Findings. Somatic (β = 0.067; 95% C.I. 0.029 to 0.104; P < 0.001) and cognitive (β = 0.062; 95% C.I. 0.034 to 0.089; P<0.001) components were associated with increased CFS scores. Both somatic (β = -0.062; 95% C.I. -0.104 to -0.021; P<0.001) and cognitive (β = 0.052; 95% C.I. -0.081 to -0.024; P < 0.001) scores were associated with lower HRQOL. Somatic scores lost mortality association on addition of CFS to the multivariable model (HR1.06; 95% C.I. 0.977 to 1.14; P=0.173). Cognitive symptoms were not associated with mortality. Neither the component score was associated with hospitalisation on multivariable analyses.

Conclusions: Both somatic and cognitive depression symptoms are associated with frailty and poorer HRQOL in haemodialysis recipients but were not associated with mortality or hospitalisation when adjusted for frailty. The risk profile of depression somatic scores may be related to overlap with symptoms of frailty.