Behavioral Therapy may Help Reduce Depression in Dialysis Patients

A recent study looks at behavioral therapy that was provided chair-side to kidney failure patients while they underwent dialysis. The study finds that this may help patients fight depression and even improve patients' overall quality of life. 

Various technological advances have helped dialysis patients live longer and healthier lives, but depression is a serious and prevalent problem among many going through these treatments. In addition to taking a toll on emotional health, depression has also been linked with shortened life spans in dialysis patients. Traditional treatments can also range from medication to psychotherapy. However, dialysis patients are usually on many medications and seldom have time or energy for additional outpatient treatments, according to background information from the study.

Lead study author Daniel Cukor of the SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Ph.D., and colleagues, addressed this issue by providing a specifically adaptive cognitive behavioral therapy for depression that is provided chair-side while patients undergo dialysis.

"We believe such an intervention is eminently practical and feasible for implementation in dialysis units," explained Dr. Cuko, via a press release.

The research team worked to test their strategy in 59 patients undergoing treatment at dialysis centers in New York. Thirty-three patients showed that cognitive behavioral therapy was administered chair-side during dialysis treatments for three months while another 26 patients did not receive behavioral therapy during dialysis. Patients were then assessed three to six months later.

Major findings show the following, courtesy of the release.

• The treatment group achieved significantly larger reductions in depression scores compared with the control group.
• Among participants with depression diagnosed at the start of the study, 89% in the treatment group were not depressed at the end of treatment, compared with 38% in the control group.
• Patients in the treatment group experienced greater improvements in quality of life and were better able to control fluid intake between dialysis sessions (which makes the next dialysis session more efficient).

"We were able to have a substantial and positive impact on the level of depression, quality of life, and fluid adherence of dialysis patients, without using any medication and only minimal additional treatment burden on the patient," said Dr. Cukor. "These results are novel and encouraging, as they indicate that despite the complex challenges of life on dialysis, there are now tools that are available to the clinician to address depression in patients."

More information regarding the study can be found via the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).