Mental illness: the forgotten burden on diabetes populations?

Abstract

www.thelancet.com Vol 388 August 6, 2016 561 sample of people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes was seven times higher (14·3%) than in the general population (2·3%). Participants with insulin-treated type 2 diabetes reported more frequent depressive symptoms (34.3%) and even more prevalent suicidal ideation (19%) than individuals with type 1 diabetes. Participants with diabetes and at least moderate depressive symptoms reported higher suicide ideation rates (>40%) than those with diabetes and no depressive symptoms (5·8%). The suicide rate in young men (ages 20–24 years) with type 1 diabetes is complex, understudied, and higher than the expectations of Kyvik and colleagues, suggesting that the cause of death is often misclassifi ed as diabetes-related, rather than due to mental health issues or suicide. Depression is associated with increased mortality in diabetic populations. Similarly, depressive symptoms have been shown to increase mortality risk in people with diabetes but not in those without diabetes. These pieces emphasise the eff ect of mental health on diabetes, and further ignorance will only lead to increasing numbers of articles chronicling the ballooning costs of the diabetes epidemic.