The combination of Diabetes and depression increases a person’s risk of dying early, beyond that linked to either condition alone, according to new study findings.

The implication, according to researchers, is that patients with diabetes should be routinely screened for depression.

They found that among more than 10,000 U.S. adults in a national health survey, those who had both diabetes and depression were more likely than those with either disorder alone to die over the next 8 years.

They were 2.5 times more likely to die during the study period than were men and women without Diabetes or depression.

The findings are published in the June issue of the journal Diabetes Care.

Diabetes is well known to increase the risk of Heart disease, Stroke and other ills, and a number of studies have linked depression to a heightened risk of death from any cause. What has been unclear is whether the combination of the two illnesses may be deadlier than either alone.

The new findings suggest that this is the case, according to study leader Dr. Leonard E. Egede, an assistant professor of medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

The reason is unclear, but Egede said it’s possible that depression makes it harder to manage diabetes - which requires regular blood sugar monitoring, sticking to a medication regimen, regular exercise and a healthful diet.

Studies have shown that people with diabetes have a higher-than-average rate of depression, which may, according to Egede, be related to the stress of dealing with a chronic disease. But, he told, the problem may often go unrecognized.

“We believe that all patients with diabetes should be screened for depression at least once a year,” Egede said. Depression screening, which can be done with a short questionnaire, could be part of routine diabetes care, according to the researcher - similar to blood pressure and cholesterol check-ups.

SOURCE: Diabetes Care, June 2005.