A descriptive and comparative study from China on patients with type-2 diabetes with and without depressive symptoms

The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of depressive symptoms for patients with type-2 diabetes at the population level in China and explore differences in demographic, socioeconomic, and disease-specific parameters between diabetic patients with and without depression. Self-rating depression scale was used to screen for depressive symptoms in 667 patients with type-2 diabetes from 4 communities in Beijing; their quality of life and social support was assessed using appropriate and validated tools. The results indicate that 44.23% of diabetic patients report depressive symptoms; patients with depressive symptoms had a significantly higher rate of diabetic complications, a lower quality of life and less social support than patients without depressive symptoms.