The Prevalence and Predictors of Depression in Type 2 Diabetic Population of Punjab

The present cross sectional study was carried out on 787 type 2 diabetic subjects from tertiary health care hospitals to identify the prevalence and predictors of depression in diabetes. Depression was tested using Patient Health Questionnaire-9. Of the study participants, 199 (25.29 %) met the criteria for mild to moderate depression, 252 (32.02 %) were severely depressed and 336 (42.69 %) were clinically non-depressed. The prevalence of depression was 65.02 % in women, which is 1.87 fold higher (p < 0.0001) than men (49.87 %). Depression was observed to be strongly associated with advancing age >30 years (p < 0.05), low income (p = 0.0001), sedentary life style (p = 0.001), Plasma levels of low density lipoproteins (LDL) >100 mg/dl and triglycerides (TG) >150 mg/dl (p < 0.05), drinking alcohol (p < 0.001), statin use (p < 0.001), BMI >35–39.9 kg m⁻² (p = 0.018), WHR >0.9 cm (p < 0.0001), Glucose levels >125 mg/dl (p < 0.0001) and duration of diabetes 2–4 years (p = 0.003). In multivariate logistic regression model, risk factors such as, being a woman, duration of diabetes ≥10 years, BMI ≥30 kg m⁻², LDL >100 mg/dl, TG >150 mg/dl and sedentary life style emerged as independent predictors of depression in diabetes. In the present study, 86.4 % diabetic subjects were not diagnosed for depression prior participation. In conclusion, the present study revealed that higher prevalence of depression in diabetes was evident in population of Punjab, especially in women and majority of these patients remain undiagnosed for depression.