Type 2 diabetes and its association with hypertension and depression in an Iraqi population

The association of type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension is so high that it cannot be explained on the basis of diabetic nephropathy. This phenomenon has been attributed to a condition known as metabolic syndrome. Depression may be another aspect of metabolic syndrome.

We conducted a cross-control study with 110 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and 110 control subjects of comparable age and sex. We determined the time since diagnosis of diabetes, the presence of hypertension (HT), coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular insufficiency, and depression, and took several anthropometric measurements, including height, weight, body mass index (BMI) waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip circumference ratio (WHR), triceps skin fold thickness (TSFT), mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC), and mid-upper arm muscle area (MAMA). We also investigated depression in metabolic syndrome by comparing patients with type 2 diabetes alone and with type 2 diabetes and hypertension who attended a diabetes clinic.

The prevalence of depression in hypertensive diabetics was 57% whereas in diabetics alone it was 40% (X2=4.3, P is less than 0.05). Likewise, combined hypertension and depression was more common among diabetics than controls (66% vs 25% respectively P is less than 0.01).

The presence of combined hypertension and type 2 diabetes should alert the clinician to look for other features of the metabolic syndrome and for associated depression, which should be treated in most cases by pharmacotherapy.