Publication:

Assessment of depression and diabetes distress in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in a tertiary care hospital of South India

Background Depression is one of the many complications seen among diabetics. Depression leads to lack of self-care by the diabetic and endangers the therapeutic compliance, accounting for a derangement in metabolic control which in turn causes further diabetic complications and may even result in hospitalization. This leads to an increase in depressive symptoms and thus the vicious cycle continues.

Methods It is a Descriptive, cross sectional study conducted in the Medicine outpatient department. Depression was assessed by Hamilton depression rating scale. Diabetic distress was assessed by diabetic distress scale.

Results Out of the 250 study participants, 142 (56.8%) were found to be suffering from depression and 6 (2.4%) were found to have diabetes distress. The magnitude of depression was similar in both male and female. Depression was high among illiterates, unemployed (70%), single, separated individuals and patients with complications of diabetes. There was no significant association between religion and low economic status with depression. Treatment modalities, complications of diabetes, sociodemographic factors like age, sex, occupation, education, marital status, religion and socio-economic status had no significant correlation with diabetic distress. But there was a statistically significant association between diabetic distress and co-morbid conditions. 95.8% with depression had no distress and this association was found to be statistically significant (0.038).

Conclusions The magnitude of depression and distress is much high among diabetics. Early detection, counselling and treatment are required for all diabetics, especially those who have additional risk factors for the development of depression.