Psychological Distress and Self-Management in CKD: A Cross-Sectional Study

RATIONALE & OBJECTIVE: Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) not receiving dialysis, including kidney transplant recipients, often experience difficulties regarding self-management. An important barrier for adherence to self-management recommendations may be the presence of psychological distress, consisting of depressive and anxiety symptoms. We investigated relationships between psychological distress and adherence to self-management recommendations. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional online questionnaire data as part of the E-GOAL study. SETTING & PARTICIPANTS: Patients with CKD (estimated glomerular filtration rate, 20-89 mL/min/1.73 m(2)) were recruited from April 2018 to October 2020 at 4 hospitals in The Netherlands and completed online screening questionnaires. EXPOSURES: Psychological distress, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms. OUTCOMES: Dietary adherence, physical activity, medication adherence, smoking, body mass index, and a CKD self-management index (ie, the sum of 5 binary indicators of nonadherence to the recommended self-management factors). ANALYTICAL APPROACH: Adjusted multivariable regression and ordinal logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: In our sample (N = 460), 27.2% of patients reported psychological distress, and 69.8% were nonadherent to 1 or more recommendations. Higher psychological distress was significantly associated with poorer dietary adherence (β(adj), −0.13; 95% CI, −0.23 to −0.04), less physical activity (β(adj), −0.13; 95% CI, −0.22 to −0.03), and lower medication adherence (β(adj), −0.15; 95% CI, −0.24 to −0.05), but not with smoking and body mass index. Findings were similar for depressive symptoms, whereas anxiety was only associated with poorer dietary and medication adherence. Every 1-point higher psychological distress was also associated with a higher likelihood of being nonadherent to an accumulating number of different recommendations (adjusted OR, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.02-1.07). LIMITATIONS: Cross-sectional design, possible residual confounding, and self-report. CONCLUSIONS: Many people with CKD experience psychological distress, of whom most have difficulties self-managing their CKD. Given the relationship between psychological distress and adherence to CKD self-management recommendations, behavioral interventions are needed to identify and treat psychological distress as a potential barrier to CKD self-management. PLAIN-LANGUAGE SUMMARY: This online questionnaire study investigated relationships between psychological distress and self-management among 460 people with chronic kidney disease. Over a quarter of them reported mild-to-severe psychological distress. Alarmingly, 4 out of 5 patients with psychological distress were also nonadherent to 1 or more self-management recommendations, and higher levels of psychological distress were associated with poorer dietary and medication adherence and lower physical activity. Moreover, patients who suffered from moderate-to-severe distress were relatively more often nonadherent to 3 or more recommendations compared with patients with no or mild distress symptoms. So, it seems that psychological distress can be a barrier for self-management. To support patients in managing chronic kidney disease, researchers and health professionals should not overlook patients’ mental health.