The Prevalence of Comorbid Depression in Patients with Diabetes: A Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies

Depression is one of the most common psychiatric disorders in patients with diabetes, which can exacerbate and accelerate adverse diabetes complaints by reducing self-care behaviors and medication adherence. The purpose of this study is to estimate the prevalence of depression in Iranian patients with diabetes. The search was conducted in the databases of Scientific Information Database (SID), MagIran, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. The following keywords and their possible combinations were used: depressive disorder, major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder, diabetes mellitus and Iran. Heterogeneity between studies was examined with I2. The data were analyzed using the meta-analysis method and random-effects model with Stata version 11.0. The analysis of 37 selected articles with a total sample size of 7849 indicated that the overall prevalence of depression in Iranian patients with diabetes was 54% (95% CI: 47.32–60.70). In addition, the prevalence of depression in women (56.25%; 95% CI: 48.83–63.68) was higher than that of men (41.05%; 95% CI: 32.74–49.36). The results showed that there was no relationship between the prevalence of depression and publication year (0.249), sample size (p = 0.529), and mean age of the subjects (p = 0.330). More than half of the patients with diabetes suffer from depression. Identification and treatment of these patients can be an important step in controlling and delaying the diabetes complication.