MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Miklos Z Molnar, MD, PhD, FEBTM, FERA, FASN
Associate Professor of Medicine
Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine
University of Tennessee Health Science Center
Memphis, TN, 38163
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Molnar: We examine the association between presence of depression and all-cause mortality; incident Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) (new onset AMI, CABG or PCI), incident ischemic stroke, slopes of eGFR (OLS, <-5 vs ≥-5 ml/min/1.73m
2/yr) in 933,211 diabetic (based on ICD9, medication and HbA1c ≥ 6.5%) US Veterans with eGFR ≥ 60 ml/min/1.73m
2 at baseline. We adjusted for independent covariates, collected from VA databases, such as age, gender, race, BMI, marital status, income, service connection, comorbid conditions (ICD9), baseline eGFR, serum albumin.
Mean age was 64±11 years, 97% were male and 18% African-American. Depression was present in 340,806 (37%) patients at enrollment. During a median follow-up of 7.3 years, 180,343 patients (19%) developed Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD).AS (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] and 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.20 (1.19-1.21)). Similarly, depression was associated with 35% higher risk of incident stroke (aHR and 95% CI: 1.35 (1.32-1.39), 24% higher risk of incident CHD (aHR and 95% CI: 1.24 (1.22-1.27) and 25% higher risk of all cause mortality (aHR and 95% CI: 1.25 (1.24-1.26) during the follow-up.
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