Here's the study: 840 patients who had kidney transplants at a single facility were followed for 5 years after the transplant. Overall, 22% of these folks had documented depression. Looking at depressed and non-depressed participants separately, the investigators found that 21% of those who were depressed died during the 5-year period, compared to 13% of those who were not depressed.
It's a smallish study, but the evidence that depression is associated with a worse outcome in people with other medical diseases is accumulating. This study was just published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.
Depressed? Get some treatment
