Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a frequently encountered chronic metabolic disease with various complications throughout its course, which causes severe restriction and disability in an individual's life. It has been well documented that the incidence of depression is higher in diabetic patients and co-morbid depression causes further deterioration in the quality of life in diabetic patients.
Aims: To study the prevalence of depression and its impact on quality of life in patients with type II DM.
Settings and design: Single centre, cross-sectional, single interview.
Materials and methods: Total 195 type II DM patients are included in this study. To diagnose Depressive Episode Structured Clinical Interview for DSM IV Axis-1 Disorders, Research Version patient edition was applied. All patients were evaluated with a semi-structured socio-demographic proforma to assess socio-demographic characteristics, Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) and Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire (Q-LES-Q) SF (Short Form) to measure the quality of life.
Results: Among them, 46.15% (N=90; males: 41, females: 49) met the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for major depressive episodes. Among the depressed group, majority were (36.7%) moderately depressed. QLESQ-SF total and each item scores were significantly lower in the depressed group than in the non-depressed group. Both the HAM-D scores and HbA1c level have significant negative correlations with QLESQ-SF total scores.
Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that the presence of depression in type II DM further deteriorates the quality of life of the patients. Therefore, treating depression would have a beneficial effect on the quality of life.
Keywords: Depression; diabetes mellitus; quality of life.