Depression and diabetes: A tendency or demon of darkness among diabetics? A cross-sectional study among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients attending an integrated diabetes and gestational diabetes clinic of Eastern India

Background: Depression is a common comorbid condition found in chronic medical illnesses in general and diabetes mellitus (DM) in particular. Worldwide, more than 365 million people are estimated to have Type 2 DM (T2DM), and almost 300 million people have major depression. Depression can be viewed as a Modifiable independent risk factor for the development of T2DM and for progression of complications from either type 1 or T2DM. Objectives: The aim of the study was to find out the distribution and determinants of depression among T2DM patients attending an integrated diabetes and gestational diabetes clinic (IDGDC) of a tertiary care hospital of West Bengal, East India. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional, observational study was conducted among T2DM patients who attended IDGDC during May 2017–June 2017. Public Health Questionnaire-9 was used to assess depression and its severity. A total of 196 study subjects participated in the study. Results: The prevalence of depression was found to be 54.6%. About 28.1% of the study subjects had mild depression, 17.9%, 6.1%, and 2.6% subjects had moderate, moderately severe, and severe depression, respectively. Women gender, increasing age, rural residence, low literacy, longer duration of diabetes, and overweight/obesity were significantly associated with high frequency of depression. Addiction was significantly higher among depressed T2DM patients. Mean hemoglobin A1c level was significantly lower among non-depressed T2DM patients. Conclusion: More than half of the T2DM patients are suffering from depression of varying severity. There should be a dedicated counselor in diabetes clinics for routine screening of depression among all T2DM patients to identify the high-risk patients requiring urgent psychiatrist consultation.