Investigators have found that about 25 percent of patients with diabetes have symptoms of depression, confirming the relationship between these two conditions. Rates of depression were similar across ethnic groups, but there were significant differences in the use of depression treatment across groups.

Dr. Mary de Groot, of Ohio University, Athens, and colleagues examined rates of depressive symptoms, depression treatment, and satisfaction with treatment in a multicultural sample of 221 patients with type 1 (insulin-dependent) or type 2 (non-insulin-dependent diabetes).

Seventy-five had type 2 diabetes, 60 percent were women, the average age was 54 years and 53 percent were white.

Conservatively, 25.3 percent of the subjects had clinically significant depression. There were no significant differences in the rates of depression by ethnic group or diabetes type.

“Approximately 76 percent reported experience with one or more types of depression treatment,” the investigators note in the journal Diabetes Care. “A total of 52 percent reported treatment with antidepressant medications, 63 percent from mental health providers, 15 percent with herbal remedies, and 19 percent from alternative healers.”

Compared with whites, African Americans were less likely to report receiving any type of depression treatment. No difference between whites and Hispanics in treatment use was observed.

Of the 56 patients with high depression scores, most (63 percent) who received antidepressant drugs were satisfied or very satisfied with the treatment. Fifty-nine percent of patients treated by a mental health provider were satisfied with treatment, while 80 percent of those treated by an “alternative healer” and 38 percent who took herbal remedies were satisfied.

Based on these findings, the investigators think “increased depression screening and treatment may be beneficial for ethnically diverse patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.”

SOURCE: Diabetes Care March 2006.