Is depression related to subsequent diabetes mellitus?
OBJECTIVE
To compare the risk of developing diabetes mellitus (DM) in the general population between subjects who had a depression and subjects who never had a depression.


METHODS
Retrospective cohort design. People with depression were diagnosed with a depression between 1975 and 1990; controls never had a depression. Both groups were followed for a diagnosis of type II diabetes until 2000. Data on 1334 depressed and 66 670 non-depressed subjects were available from a large general practice-based database.


RESULTS
No overall relation was found, but among males below age 50 there was a 78% increase in the rate of development of DM compared with non-depressed patients (hazard ratio 1.78, 95% CI: 1.21-2.62).


CONCLUSIONS
Depression in males between the age of 20 and 50 years is related to an increased risk of developing DM.
Department of General Practice, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands. marjan.vandenakker@hag.unimaas.nl
M
M
van den Akker
A
A
Schuurman
J
J
Metsemakers
F
F
Buntinx
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003710:Demography; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors