Depression and Diabetes Linked
Which came first? The chicken or the egg? Does a diagnosis of diabetes lead to depression or does depression lead to diabetes? Probably both according to new research reported on Newsday.com.
People with diabetes are more likely to become depressed as they face a lifetime of keeping their disease in check, researchers said. About 21 million Americans have diabetes, which requires patients to adhere to a strict diet and exercise routine and to monitor their blood sugar levels regularly. People being treated for Type 2 diabetes, the most common form, were 52 percent more likely to develop depression than those without the disease, according to a paper published in a recent Journal of the American Medical Association. John Buse, the American Diabetes Association's president of medicine and science, said. "It's a very tough business to take care of diabetes."
On the flip side, depression may cause patients to develop behaviors that cause diabetes or make it worse. For example, research has shown that many people who are depressed don't exercise, smoke, and/or overeat. "It's important that doctors be attuned to look for both conditions in patients at risk for either diabetes or depression," lead author Sherita Hill Golden, an associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, said in a statement. "We may want to develop interventions for both treatments, instead of just one or the other."
