PREVALENCE OF DEPRESSION IN PATIENTS WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS AND ITS IMPACT ON GLYCEMIC CONTROL: A CROSS SECTIONAL, UNICENTRIC, OBSERVATIONAL STUDY

Dipan Saha, Sekhar Mandal*, Ram Narayan Maiti, Umakanta Mahapatra and Subhayan Das

ABSTRACT

Background: Diabetes Mellitus is a chronic metabolic disease with many complications, which can cause disability and restriction in an individual’s life. Clinical studies have suggested patients with type 2 Diabetes Mellitus have 1.6-2.0 times higher rate of major depression compared to general population. However the adequate and exact data regarding prevalence of depression and its impact on glycemic control is limited. Objective: To assess the prevalence of co-morbid depression among type 2 diabetic patients and its impact on glycemic control. Methods and Materials: A cross sectional, unicentric, observational study was carried out over 24 weeks at an internal medicine outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital in India. Patients aged 30-60 years with established type 2 Diabetes Mellitus for one year and more were screened for depression. Beck’s depression inventory was used to detect the depressive disorder and its severity. Result: The study population (n=40) was predominantly male (30) and had a mean age of 54.975 years. Majority of the patients had poor glycemic control. Among study subjects 17 (42.5%) were suffering from clinical depression of which 10 persons had moderate depression. None of them were having severe to extreme depression according to Beck’s Depression Inventory. Although more patients with higher HbA1c values found to be suffering from depressive illness, there was no significant correlation between glycemic control and level of depression. Conclusion: Depression was found to be highly prevalent among the patients of type 2 Diabetes Mellitus but we failed to show association between depression and hyperglycemia.

Keywords: Depression, Diabetes, glycemic control.