Abstract

PINHO, Sara; ALANO, Vilson; CARAMELO, Francisco  and  OLIVEIROS, Bárbara. Type-2 diabetes and depression: is there a relationship between these two pathologies?. Psic., Saúde & Doenças [online]. 2021, vol.22, n.2, pp.495-504.  Epub Aug 30, 2021. ISSN 1645-0086.  https://doi.org/10.15309/21psd220214.

T2D and depression are two highly prevalent chronic diseases, both with a negative impact on a population’s quality of life. Recently, a two-way association between these two pathologies has been demonstrated. The purposes of this study are to portray sociodemographic and disease-related characteristics of individuals diagnosed with both T2D and depression, and to identify potential disease influencing factors. This is an observational cross-sectional study that included a sample of users from two Family Health Units in Coimbra aged ≥18 years and diagnosed with T2D. Variables: age; sex; time since the diagnosis of T2D; presence/absence of depression; A1c and BMI values; type of T2D therapy; presence/absence of hypertension, smoking and microvascular complications. The data was processed using SPSS-26®, using descriptive and inferential statistics and considering statistical significance for p<0.05. A total of 389 diabetic (53,5% males) individuals were included, with a mean age of 70,7 ± 10,6 years. The proportion of diabetics who concomitantly presented depression was 30% (95% CI, 25-35%), with statistically significant differences between the proportion of depression observed and the proportion calculated for the general population (binomial test, p <0,001). The odds of a diabetic women having depression is approximately 3 times higher than the odds of a diabetic men (OR = 3,1; 95% CI [1,98; 4,90]). There were no statistically significant differences in the remaining variables studied. The prevalence of depression is significantly higher in the diabetic population than in the general population, especially in women. This highlights the importance of prevention, early detection and treatment of depression in diabetic patients.

Keywords : Type-2 diabetes; depression; comorbidity; bidirectional associations.

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