Diabetes and depression a deadly mix, study finds

Diabetes and depression a deadly mix, study finds

If you suffer from diabetes, you will want to make sure that you keep depression at bay, a recent review found.

Published in the January issue of General Hospital Psychiatry, a review of diabetes research studies found that diabetes and depression can be a deadly combination. Reviewers noted that according to one study, patients with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes have a one-and-a-half time greater risk of dying if they also suffer from depression. Further, the review pointed to other data that showed diabetes and depression results in a 20 percent higher risk of heart-related death.

Gloria Boland, a Certified Diabetes Educator and nurse at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, Illinois, says the connection between diabetes, depression and death is not surprising.

“The vicious circle that depression can cause among diabetics is that depression can lead to poor lifestyle decisions,” Boland says. “Diabetes is a chronic disease that needs to be managed, and when a complicating factor like depression gets in the way of managing diabetes then you run the risk of further, more dramatic, complications like heart disease.”

Diabetes affects over 25 million people in the U.S., and people with diabetes are twice as likely to have depression, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For more information about the treatment diabetes, visit, http://bit.ly/YAqq6R

Related Posts

Comments

Subscribe to health enews newsletter

About the Author

health enews Staff
health enews Staff

health enews staff is a group of experienced writers from our Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care sites, which also includes freelance or intern writers.