Risk for high depressive symptoms in diagnosed and previously undetected diabetes: 5-year follow-up results of the Heinz Nixdorf Recall study

PLoS One. 2013;8(2):e56300. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0056300. Epub 2013 Feb 18.

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the risk for the development of high depressive symptoms in study participants with diagnosed and previously undetected diabetes mellitus compared to those without diabetes in a prospective population-based cohort study in Germany.

Methods: We estimated the 5-year cumulative incidence of high depressive symptoms in participants without high depressive symptoms at baseline (n = 3,633, 51.4% men, mean age (SD) 59.1 (7.6) years, 7.0% diagnosed diabetes, 5.3% previously undetected diabetes) from the population-based Heinz Nixdorf Recall study. Diabetes was assessed by self-report, medication, and blood glucose. High depressive symptoms were assessed using CES-D. We calculated odds ratios and their corresponding 95% confidence interval, using multiple logistic regression analyses.

Result: Cumulative 5-year incidences (95% CI) of high depressive symptoms in participants with diagnosed, undetected, and without diabetes were 7.1 (4.2-10.9), 4.1 (1.8-8.0), and 6.5 (5.6-7.4), respectively. The age-sex-adjusted OR for developing high depressive symptoms was 1.22 (0.74-2.03) in participants with diagnosed compared to those without diabetes, and 1.00 (0.59-1.68) after adjustment for BMI, physical activity, education, stroke, and myocardial infarction. The age-sex adjusted OR for developing high depressive symptoms in participants with previously undetected diabetes compared to those without diabetes was 0.72; 0.35-1.48; and fully adjusted 0.62; 0.30-1.30.

Conclusion: We found no significant associations, maybe due to low power. However, our results are in line with a recent meta-analysis suggesting that risk of developing high depressive symptoms in patients with diagnosed diabetes may be moderately higher than in those without diabetes, and that comorbidity may explain in part this association. In participants with previously undetected diabetes, this first longitudinal study indicates that the risk is not increased or may even be decreased. These results support the hypothesis that high depressive symptoms develop due to diabetes-related burden and comorbidity and not due to hyperglycemia or hyperinsulinaemia.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Comorbidity
  • Depression / epidemiology*
  • Depression / etiology*
  • Diabetes Mellitus / epidemiology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Incidence
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Odds Ratio
  • Risk

Grants and funding

This study was supported in the context of the Competence Network for Diabetes Mellitus by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, www.bmbf.de). The German Diabetes Center is funded by the German Ministry of Health (http://www.bmg.bund.de) and the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of Innovation, Science and Research (http://www.wissenschaft.nrw.de/). This study was supported in part by a grant from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to the German Center for Diabetes research (DZD e.V.). The Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study (HNR) is supported by the Heinz Nixdorf Foundation, Germany (http://www.heinz-nixdorf-stiftung.de/). An additional research grant was obtained from the German Ministry of Education and Science and the German Research Council (DFG; Project SI 236/8-1, SI236/9-1, ER155-6-2). The authors acknowledge the support of the Sarstedt AG & Co. concerning laboratory equipment, and thank the investigative group and the study staff of the Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.