Association between diabetes and depression: Sex and age differences

Summary 

Objective

To examine the association between diabetes and the prevalence of depression in different sex and age groups by analysing the cross-sectional data from the National Population Health Survey, conducted in Canada in 1996–1997.

Study design

A total of 53072 people aged 20–64 years were included in the analysis. Depression was defined as depression scale ⩾5, based on the Composite International Diagnostic Interview Short-Form (CIDI-SF). Respondents who answered the following question affirmatively were considered to have diabetes: ‘do you have diabetes diagnosed by a health professional?’

Methods

A multiple logistic regression model was used to adjust for potential confounding effects, and a bootstrap procedure was used to take sampling weights and design effects into account.

Results

The prevalence of diabetes was much higher in people aged 40–64 years than in people aged 20–39 years (men: 4.7% vs. 0.5%; women: 3.5% vs. 0.8%, respectively). In contrast, people aged 20–39 years had a slightly higher prevalence of depression than those aged 40–64 years (men: 3.1% vs. 2.9%; women: 6.6% vs. 5.4%, respectively). Diabetes was significantly associated with depression in women aged 20–39 years (odds ratio [OR]=2.52, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.19, 5.32), but not in women aged 40–64 years (OR=1.62, and 95% CI=0.65, 4.06). The association was not significant in both age groups in men, but it tended to be stronger in the younger age group.

Conclusions

The data suggest that diabetes is significantly associated with depression, particularly in young adults.

Keywords: Depression, Diabetes, Cross-sectional study, Age factor, Prevalence, Health survey