Association between Geriatric Nutrition Risk Index and depression in older hemodialysis patients with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus: a multicenter cross-sectional study

Objectives The purpose of this study was to observe the relationship between the Geriatric nutrition risk index (GNRI) and depression in the presence or absence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in older adults undergoing hemodialysis. Design In this multicenter cross-sectional study, 684 clinically stable hemodialysis patients aged ≥60 years (431 men; mean age: 69.6 ± 6.6 years) were included from seven dialysis units in Shanghai, China. Measures : Depressive symptoms were assessed using the PHQ-9 scale, and T2DM diagnoses were determined by medical records. Multinomial logistic regression was performed to evaluate the association between Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI) and depression. Results Hemodialysis patients with diabetes had a high prevalence of depression (39.4%). In diabetes patients, GNRI was associated with depression after adjusting covariates [OR=0.984; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.969–0.999, P =0.046]. However, no significant association was found between GNRI and depression in the non-diabetes hemodialysis patients ( P > 0.05). Conclusions This cross-sectional study examines the relationship between the GNRI and depression in hemodialysis patients with T2DM rather than the non-T2DM group. Further studies are needed to investigate more causal relationships between GNRI and depression in patients with T2DM.