Research has revealed that depression furthers the complications of diabetes. The risks associated with depression include kidney failure, blindness, heart attack and stroke, but other factors are obviously involved. Age, race, location and gender play a large role in the study's results, but most of the conclusions were the same: depression worsens diabetes.
The serious complications between diabetes and depression were studied in the past. There was a study conducted in 2006 on 226,646 people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The results came from questionnaires and surveys that proved to be accurate when used for other similar types of studies. Researchers used the responses of the hand-outs to measure minor and major types of depression and the intensity of depression.
Serious depression seemed to comprise 8.3 percent of the U.S. adults with diabetes involved in the survey. The rate varied by age, gender, race, and location. The most noticeable difference in rates of depression occurred between race and location. Insulin users among adults with type 2 diabetes were also found to be more depressed. However, a flaw in the study was the fact that researchers had to rely on people accurately reporting their symptoms.
The new study conducted by the journal Diabetes Care is revealing similar results, but more severe. The level of depression made the largest difference between depression worsening diabetes. A higher risk of having micro-vascular complications occurred in 36 percent of those studied over the five period. When risks reach this level, end-stage kidney disease develops. The next stage being life threatening strokes.
The ways to help avoid developing these severe complications are obvious: eat healthy, exercise regularly and take the appropriate medications. Doctors and people suffering diabetes are also being encouraged to bring depression into the forefront when dealing with diabetes drug treatment.
Written by Amy Munday
HULIQ.com
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