The authors review the literature on depression and other psychosocial risk factors that may influence the evolution of patients with kidney disease. Studies addressing depression, age, gender, skin color, social support, and marital status/family support were included in the review. The study revealed that trials assessing these factors have not come to a consensus so far. Age seems to be a factor that interferes with disease evolution, but the papers examined did not include confounding factors. Some papers also showed strong evidence that gender is not associated with the evolution of these patients.
Depression; psychosocial factors; nephrology; renal dialysis; kidney transplantation; peritoneal dialysis; CAPD