Peculiarities of depression in diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Introduction. Diabetes mellitus is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Today depressive disorders occupy one of the first places among the causes of its disability. It is shown that the incidence of depression is 2-3 times higher in diabetics compared to non-diabetics. Moreover people with depressive disorders have a much higher risk of developing diabetes mellitus. The prognosis of both diseases in terms of disease severity, complications, treatment resistance and mortality is worse when they evolve together, than when evolving separately. This is a current problem due to an apparent decline of the quality of life of patients, which is lower, than the quality of life of the general population. Objective of the study is to evaluate the frequency of depressive disorders and diabetes mellitus depending on: sex, patients` residence area, type of diabetes mellitus, treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Materials and methods. To achieve the objectives there were examined 85 patients with the confirmed diagnosis of diabetes mellitus. To assess depression in patients with diabetes mellitus the Beck Depression Test was used, the study being descriptive. Results and discussion. Of the 85 patients with diabetes mellitus included in the study,68% were identified with depressive symptoms. Of the 15 patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus, 80% were found to have depression, the percentage of patients with depression and type 2 diabetes mellitus being 66%. Depression was assessed in 71% of the 45 women included in the study, the percentage of women affected by depressive disorders being higher than that of men,accounting for 65% of the 40 subjects of the study. There were established differences on the trend of depression development in people with diabetes mellitus depending on the living environment. The number of depressed patients included in the study is higher in rural areas, it being 31 subjects (36.5%) versus 24 subjects (28.2%) in urban areas. Of the 70 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, 45.7% were taking oral antidiabetic agents, while 54.3%were on insulin. The association of depression with diabetes mellitus was most commonly identified in diabetics receiving insulin (37% of 70 patients) compared to those taking oral medications (19%). Conclusions. Depression is a comorbidity commonly occurringin patients with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus. The association between diabetes mellitus and depression is more common in women. Depression is most commonly diagnosed in patients with diabetes mellitus in rural areas. Patients taking insulin have a higher rate of depression than patients taking oral antidiabetics.