Does Diabetes Double the Risk of Depression?

Abstract

PURPOSE In this study, we compared the rate of depression diagnoses in adults with and without diabetes mellitus, while carefully controlling for number of primary care visits. METHODSWe matched adults with incident diabetes (n = 2,932) or prevalent diabetes (n = 14,144) to nondiabetic control patients based on (1) age and sex, or (2) age, sex, and number of outpatient primary care visits. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association between various predictors and a diagnosis of depression in each diabetes cohort relative to matched nondiabetic control patients. RESULTSWith matching for age and sex alone, patients with prevalent diabetes having few primary care visits were signifi cantly more likely to have a new depression diagnosis than matched control patients (odds ratio [OR] = 1.46, 95% confi dence interval [CI], 1.19-1.80), but this relationship diminished when patients made more than 10 primary care visits (OR = 0.95, 95% CI, 0.77-1.17). With additional matching for number of primary care visits, patients with prevalent diabetes mellitus with few primary care visits were more likely to have a new diagnosis of depression than those in control group (OR = 1.32, 95% CI, 1.07-1.63), but this relationship diminished and reversed when patients made more than 4 primary care visits (OR = 0.99, 95% CI, 0.80-1.23). Similar results were observed in the subset of patients with incident diabetes and their matched control patients. CONCLUSIONSPatients with diabetes have little or no increase in the risk of a new diagnosis of depression relative to nondiabetic patients when analyses carefully control for the number of outpatient visits. Studies showing such an association may have inadequately adjusted for comorbidity or for exposure to the medical care system.

Depression, self-esteem, diabetes care and self-care behaviors among middle-aged and older Mexicans

“…In their study Fisher et al [41] found no association between clinical depression or depressive symptoms with glycemic control among middle age and older adults. In fact, they only found a relationship between diabetes related distress and HbA1c, which suggest that the association between diabetes management and depression is very complex and may be moderated or mediated by other factors that were not examined in the present study [42]. …”

Epidemiology of depression in diabetes: International and cross-cultural issues

“…In a study from Pakistan, the prevalence of depressive symptoms in people with newly diagnosed diabetes was found to be significantly higher four weeks after diagnosis of type 2 diabetes (Perveen et al, 2010), while a large prospective study from the USA found that the risk of depressive disorder increased in the two years after diagnosis of type 2 diabetes even in the absence of diabetes complications (O'Connor et al, 2009). On the other hand, a UK study found that the prevalence of depression was not significantly different from a normative sample in the first year after diagnosis, although a significant number of people had persistent depressive symptoms during that year (Skinner et al, 2010).…”

Unraveling the Mechanisms Responsible for the Comorbidity between Metabolic Syndrome and Mental Health Disorders

“…Beyond comorbidity, several studies highlight that MetS increases the likelihood of developing affective disorders [53], such as depression [67–72] and bipolar disorder [69], due to similar underlying mechanisms. Obesity is not found to increase risk of depression in the general population, but the subset of obese individuals with high socioeconomic status have a doubled risk of depression [38].…”