Prevalence of Depression among Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) at the Kenyatta National Hospital.

Background: Depression is a common comorbidity among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Preceding studies indicates that this condition causes increased mortality and is also linked to poor quality of life. The study aimed to establish the occurrence of depression among patients with chronic kidney disease in Kenyatta National Hospital in Kenya. Method: The study was carried out at the Kenyatta National Hospital in Kenya. The study was done at the renal unit and general medical wards of the hospital and was a cross-sectional descriptive study. The study enrolled 289 patients with CKD who met the inclusion criteria on follow up for kidney transplant and dialysis at the renal unit, those on outpatient follow up at the renal clinic and patients with CKD admitted in the medical wards. The participants were enrolled using systematic random sampling. They were then interviewed using a researcher designed a socio-demographic questionnaire with clinical characteristics and the Beck Depression Inventory-II. IBM Statistics Software Version 21 was used to analyse data and the results reported in narratives, tables and charts. Results: A total of 169(58.5%) participants were male, while 120 (41.5%) were female. Study participants had a mean age of 45.9 years. The prevalence of depression (borderline clinical depression to extreme depression) was found to be 28.4%. 24.9% of participants had mild mood disturbances and 46.7% did not have depression. The most common symptoms of depression among the participants were loss of energy as reported by 78.5% of them and increased fatigue which was reported by 77.9% of the research participants. Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of depression among patients with CKD and patients should be managed effectively for CKD and any other co-existing comorbidity to improve their health outcomes and their quality of life.