Maarse BCE, Chesnaye NC, Schouten R, et al. - In older patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD), depressive symptoms at baseline were not significantly associated with decline in kidney function over time. In males, a higher mortality rate was evident in relation to depressive symptoms at baseline.

• From a European multicenter prospective cohort, 1326 patients with CKD were included and depressive symptoms were assessed using the 5-item Mental Health Inventory (cut-off ≤ 70;0–100 scale).

• The overall kidney function decline was -0.12 mL/min/1.73m ² /month, and depressive symptoms were present in 515 patients.

• No significant relationship was identified between depressive symptoms and renal function over time.

• Males exhibiting depressive symptoms had an elevated death rate vs those without symptoms (adjusted HR 1.41), women had not.

• No significant association was found between depressive symptoms and a higher hazard of dialysis initiation or combined outcome (i.e. dialysis initiation and all-cause death).