A National Study of Practice Patterns in Renal Services in the Identification and Management of Depression in People with Chronic Kidney Disease (Mood Maps Study)
Depression affects 23-39% of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, impacting significantly upon quality of life. There is established evidence demonstrating the association between depression and mortality in CKD. Recognising and treating depression in CKD should be a clinical priority, yet evidence for effective treatments in CKD is lacking. Currently little is known how best to treat depression in CKD patients. There are national guidelines on the clinical management of people with long-term conditions (LTCs) with depression, yet we do not know how these guidelines are implemented within the renal context, and if they are helpful in supporting the identification and treatment of depression.
The aim of this project is to understand current national practice patterns for the identification and management of depression in CKD, in order to recommend clinical pathways for the identification and management of depression in CKD, which can be tested in future studies.
The research will be mixed-methods over 30 months. First, we will systematically review existing research that has examined how to treat people with LTCs (including CKD) and depression. This will lead to the development of a questionnaire to send to all UK renal services, asking how they identify and treat CKD patients with depression. The questionnaire will be co-produced with an ‘expert stakeholder group’ including patients, carers and health care professionals (HCPs), including GPs. From this questionnaire we will be able to identify variation in practice patterns.
With our expert stakeholder group, we will select six renal services across the UK, as ‘case studies’, in order to explore in detail how CKD patients with depression are treated and supported. We will review these services local policies for psychosocial support, interview staff and patients and other HCPs. We will also ask CKD patients with different ethnic backgrounds to complete a short survey, to gain their experiences of mental health support. This case study approach will provide a thorough description of the current treatment pathways for depression across UK renal services.
The findings will be discussed with the expert panel and other relevant stakeholders to identify examples of best practice and make recommendations for national clinical pathways of care in CKD. We will disseminate our findings nationally with the aim of facilitating future research designed to test aspects of the pathway, including treatments trials.
Funder:
Kidney Research UK (KRUK)
Team
Prof Joe Chilcot, J. (PI) Kings College London
Prof Sam Norton, Kings College London
Dr Jo Hudson, Kings College London
Prof Ken Farrington, University of Hertfordshire
M. J. Ryan Tucker, University of Hertfordshire
Prof David Wellsted, University of Hertfordshire
Prof Julie Jones, University of Hertfordshire
Prof Shivani Sharma, Aston University
Prof Paula Ormandy, University of Salford
Dr Lucy Mackintosh, University of Hertfordshire
Dr Natalie Hall, University of Hertfordshire
Dr Christina Pearce, Kings College London
N Palmer, Kidney Care UK
Publications:
Pearce, C. J., Hall, N., Hudson, J. L., Farrington, K., Ryan Tucker, M. J., Wellsted, D., Jones, J., Sharma, S., Norton, S., Ormandy, P., Palmer, N., Quinnell, A., Fitzgerald, L., Griffiths, S. & Chilcot, J. Approaches to the identification and management of depression in people living with chronic kidney disease: a scoping review of 860 papers. Journal of Renal Care. 8 Feb 2024, 50, 1, p. 4-14 11 p.
Partners:
Aston University
University of Hertfordshire
Kings College London
Kidney Care UK