Higher Incidence of Psychiatrist-Diagnosed Depression in Taiwanese Female School-Age Children and Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes: A Nationwide, Population-Based, Retrospective Cohort Study.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the risk of clinical depression associated with type 1 diabetes in female Taiwanese children and adolescents. Using Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database, we identified 1373 female children and adolescents, aged 5-18 years, with type 1 diabetes diagnosed between 2000 and 2007. A comparison cohort was assembled, which consisted of 20 patients without type 1 diabetes, based on frequency matching for age interval and index year for each patient with type 1 diabetes. Both groups were followed until a psychiatrist diagnosed depression or the end of the follow-up period, up to a maximum period of 5 years from the index date. A Poisson regression model was used to calculate incidence rate ratios (IRRs) for depression between the type 1 diabetes cohort and the comparison cohort. The incidence rate of depression in the type 1 diabetes cohort was 228.4 per 100,000 person-years and that in the comparison cohort was 73.9 per 100,000 person-years. The type 1 diabetes cohort showed a significantly higher incidence of depression compared with the comparison cohort (IRR of 3.09, p < 0.001). Findings from this nationwide, population-based, retrospective cohort study showed that the incidence of psychiatrist-diagnosed depression was significantly higher in female Taiwanese school-age children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes compared with those without the disease.