Prevalence of Depression Symptoms in Diabetes Mellitus

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the most prevalent diseases all over the world. Prevalence of DM in Turkey is 13.7%. Depression is another condition which has a high prevalence. All over the world, an estimated 300 million people of all ages suffer from depression. The relevance between depression and DM is a well - known condition. AIM: We aimed in this study to find out the prevalence of depression symptoms for DM in an attempt to better manage the disease. METHODS: We preferred the Beck Depression Index (BDI) to evaluate the depression symptoms. RESULTS: The number of patients introduced the study were 171 (101 (59.1%) female). As a results of BDI 67 (39.2%) patients evaluated as normal [29 (28.7%) female], 54 (31.6%) had poor symptoms [35 (34.7%) female], 46 (26.9%) had moderate symptoms [34 (33.7%) female] and lastly only 4(2.3%) had strong symptoms 3 (3.0%) female]. So 50 (29.2%) of patients had median plus strong symptoms. There were statistically significant association between HbA1c stages and depression (P = 0.018). CONCLUSION: Being a patient with DM is a strong indicator that the patient may have a depressive disorder. So the physician who takes care patients with DM should be alert about depression, and the simplest way to accomplish is BDI.