[Mood disorders in patients with chronic kidney disease. Diagnosis, screening and treatment of depression]

Abstract

Depression is a common co-morbid condition in patients suffering from a variety of chronic medical conditions. In spite of this, mental health of patients with chronic kidney disease is understudied. Accurate estimation of the prevalence of depressive disorders in this population is difficult due to the different definitions and assessment techniques and the overlap of depressive symptomatology with symptoms of uremia. Several potential pathways link depression and chronic kidney disease. The association between the two conditions is probably bidirectional. Consequently, treatment of mood disorders could impact medical outcome. Very little has been published about the therapeutic options for depression in patients with chronic kidney disease. Available data, however, suggest that several antidepressant medications and psychotherapeutic methods are likely to be safe and effective also in this population. In this review, which is the second of a series of reviews on this topic, we provide an overview of the literature concerning the diagnosis, screening and therapy of depressive disorders in patients with chronic kidney disease.