Fatigue, anxiety and depression in patients with prediabetes: a controlled cross-sectional study

Objective We aimed to determine fatigue, depression, anxiety levels, and quality of life (QoL) in patients with prediabetes (PD) and to compare them with healthy subjects. Materials and methods A controlled, cross-sectional study was conducted. The patients, aged 18–65, were recruited from a tertiary care hospital. A total of 105 patients with newly diagnosed untreated PD and 48 normoglycemic subjects were included in the study. Participants did not know the diagnosis of PD and did not give psychological distress to the newly diagnosed. All participants were evaluated for body mass index (BMI), oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Short Form-36 (SF-36). Results Age, gender, BMI were similar between groups. The scores of psychological measures were significantly worse in patients with PD compared with normoglycemic subjects (FSS median score: 4.33 vs. 2.22, HADS-anxiety mean score: 7.53 vs. 2.64, HADS-depression mean score: 6.33 vs. 2.79, SF-36 total median score: 52.81 vs. 79.89). The FSS, HADS and SF-36 scores showed a weak but statistically significant relationship with BMI. OGTT, HbA1c and HOMA-IR did not show any relationship with these scores. Conclusion Psychosocial problems may present in the prediabetic stage before the onset of diabetes.