Relationship between depressive symptoms and diabetes among native Hawaiians

Increased prevalence of depression has been reported among diabetes patients. We examined this association between diabetes and depressive symptoms in a population-based study where glucose tolerance status was determined with World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) was determined from blood collected from 574 native Hawaiians. The Centers for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale was used to assess depressive symptoms in association with diabetes history and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c). A significant association was observed between depressive symptoms and HBA1c that persisted after adjusting for age, BMI, gender, education, and after exclusion of participants reporting a history of diabetes. Diabetes history was no longer associated with CES-D depressive symptoms after adjusting for HbA1c. These results support the hypothesis that depressive symptoms associated with diabetes may be partially explained by a shared neuroendocrinological disturbance.