of Depression Associated with Development of Diabetes in Older Adults. Libraries Rates of diabetes were higher among those with a score of eight or higher, …
|Source: American Medical | |Released: Thu 19-Apr-2007, 16:00 ET |
|Association AMA | | |
| | |Embargo expired: Mon 23-Apr-2007, 16|
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Symptoms of Depression Associated with Development of Diabetes in Older
Adults
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|Medical News | |DEPRESSION, DIABETES, |
| | |OLDER ADULTS |
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|Description |
|Older adults who have had symptoms of depression-whether those |
|symptoms occurred once, increased or remained steady over a 10-year |
|period-may be more likely to develop diabetes than those without |
|depressive symptoms, according to a report in the April 23 issue of |
|Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals |
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Newswise - Older
adults who have had symptoms of depression-whether those
symptoms occurred once, increased or remained steady over a 10-year period-
may be more likely to develop diabetes than those without depressive
symptoms, according to a report in the April 23 issue of Archives of
Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals
Previous research suggests that high levels of symptoms of depression,
including irritability and trouble sleeping, are associated with increased
risk of development of type 2 diabetes, according to background information
in the article However, with few exceptions, most of the studies have
defined symptoms of depression based on a single survey filled out by
participants Given the episodic nature of depression and depressive
symptoms, a single self-report of symptoms may not fully characterize the
association between depressive symptoms and diabetes, the authors write
Mercedes R Carnethon, PhD, of Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern
University, Chicago, and colleagues followed a group of 4,681 participants
age 65 and older average age 727 who did not have diabetes at the
beginning of the study in 1989 Each year for 10 years, the participants
were evaluated
for the presence of 10 symptoms of depression, including
those related to mood, irritability, calorie intake, concentration and
sleep Symptoms were scored on a scale of zero to 30, with scores of eight
or higher indicating high levels of symptoms Sociodemographic
characteristics, clinical measures including height and weight, and
information about medication use that would indicate the development of
diabetes were also updated annually
At the beginning of the study, the average depressive symptom score was
45, and one-fifth of participants had a score of eight or higher During
the follow-up period, scores increased by at least five points in nearly
half the participants, and 234 individuals developed diabetes Rates of
diabetes were higher among those with a score of eight or higher, compared
with those who had scores below eight
In this sample of older adults, a single report of high depressive
symptoms, an increase in symptoms with time and persistently high symptoms
over time are each associated with an excess incidence of diabetes, the
authors write Furthermore, increasing symptoms with time are associated
with incident diabetes beyond initial high depressive symptoms and
the
association between increasing scores and incident diabetes was strongest
among those with initially low baseline scores
These associations were not explained by considering other risk factors for
diabetes, including physical activity, smoking and body mass index The
pathophysiologic mechanism for this association remains unclear, the
authors write
Our findings in this population of older adults are of particular public
health importance because there are 35 million US adults older than 65
years, they conclude Because an estimated 2 million older adults
experience depression or a related illness and 153 percent of those over
65 have diabetes, findings from this study of a novel and highly prevalent
risk factor for diabetes have important implications for a substantial
subset of our population
Arch Intern Med 2007;167:802-807 Available pre-embargo to the media at
wwwjamamediaorg
Editors Note: This study was supported by contracts from the National
Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, with
additional contribution from the National Institute of Neurological
Disorders and Stroke; in part by a career development award from the
National Heart, Lung, and
Blood Institute; and by an unrestricted grant
from Amgen Inc Please see the article for additional information,
including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial
disclosures, funding and support, etc
2007 Newswise All Rights Reserved
