Diabetes and depression: A review with special focus on India

Abstract

Diabetes, a psychologically challenging condition for the patients and their care givers, has been found to be a significant risk factor for depression. Depression may be a critical barrier to effective diabetes management. The accompanying fatigue remarkably lowers the motivation for self-care, often leading to lowered physical and emotion well-being, poor markers of diabetes control, poor adherence to medication, and increased mortality among individuals with diabetes. A very small proportion of the diabetes patients with depression get diagnosed, and furthermore, only a handful of the ones diagnosed get treated for depression. Despite the fact that 80 percent of the people with type 2 diabetes reside in low and middle income countries, most of the evidence on diabetes and depression comes from high income countries. This review offers a summary of existing evidence and the potential gaps that need to be addressed.

Keywords

• Diabetes Mellitus, Mental Health, Depression, Diabetes Self-Care, India