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.