Occurrence and Predictors of Depression and Poor Quality of Life Among Patients with Type-2 Diabetes: A Northern India Perspective

Background And Aims: Globally, depression has been linked to Type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, similar data from India are scant. This study evaluated the occurrence and predictors of depression and health-related quality of life (QOL) in patients with T2DM as compared to healthy controls.

Materials And Methods: One hundred adults with T2DM without prior diagnosis of depression and 100 matched controls were evaluated. Depression was assessed using Patient Health Questionnaire-9. World Health Organization QOL Brief (WHO-QOL-BREF) was used to assess QOL. Demography, anthropometry, biochemical parameters of diabetes control, and microvascular and macrovascular complications in patients were recorded.

Results: Depression was significantly more common in T2DM (63%) as compared to controls (48%) (odds ratio [OR] - 1.84 [1.04, 3.24]; = 0.03). In T2DM, depression was higher in patients with disease duration >5 years (OR = 2.66; = 0.02), glycated hemoglobin >7% (OR = 3.45; = 0.004), retinopathy (OR - 3.56; = 0.03), and nephropathy (OR - 4.11; = 0.07). Occurrence of depression was significantly higher among the patients with macrovascular complications, namely, coronary artery disease (17.4%; = 0.000006), cerebrovascular disease (14.2%; = 0.0006), and peripheral vascular disease (7.9%; = 0.05). Insulin users had higher depression as compared to patients using only oral antihyperglycemic medications ( = 0.034). Patient with depression had significantly low QOL. The WHO-QOL for all the domains was significantly lower in T2DM with microvascular and macrovascular complications, as compared to those without.

Conclusion: Indian T2DM had higher prevalence of depression and lower QOL as compared to controls, which was associated with poor glycemic control and higher end-organ damage. Public health measures are required to create more awareness for managing depression in diabetes.