Type 2 Diabetes Diagnosis May Temporarily Up Depression Risk

However, awareness of the diagnosis appears to have no lasting effect on depression risk

FRIDAY, July 2 (HealthDay News) -- Although awareness of a type 2 diabetes diagnosis may temporarily increase the risk of depressive symptoms, it is unlikely that awareness of the diagnosis will have a lasting effect on depression risk, according to research published in the July issue of Diabetes Care.

In a longitudinal analysis of patients with and without diabetes selected from a prospective study of 151,618 men and women in Finland, Mika Kivimäki, Ph.D., of the University College London, and colleagues evaluated the use of antidepressants in 493 individuals who developed type 2 diabetes and 2,450 matched controls without diabetes for each year during a period of four years before and four years after diagnosis. In addition, the researchers performed a corresponding analysis on 748 individuals who developed cancer and 3,730 matched controls.

The researchers found that the odds ratio (OR) for antidepressant use in those who developed diabetes was two times greater than in individuals without diabetes. While the relative difference in antidepressant use between the cohorts was similar before and after the diabetes diagnosis, there was a temporary peak in antidepressant use during the year of diagnosis (OR, 2.66). In addition, antidepressant use was substantially increased among incident cancer case participants after cancer diagnosis.

"Our findings provide support for the hypothesis that awareness of the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes may temporarily increase the risk of depressive symptoms," the authors write. "However, because antidepressant use was similarly elevated both before and after the diagnosis among diabetes case subjects, it seems likely that awareness of the diagnosis has no lasting effect on depression risk."

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