Diabetes education improves depressive state in newly diagnosed patients with type 2 diabetes

The prevalence of depression is relatively high in individuals with diabetes. However, screening and monitoring of depressive state in patients with diabetes is still neglected in developing countries and the treatment of diabetes-related depression is rarely performed in these countries. In this study, our aim was to study the role of diabetes education in the improvement of depressive state in newly diagnosed patients with type 2 diabetes.

The Dutch version of the center for epidemiological studies depression scale (CES-D scale) and the problem areas in diabetes (PAID) questionnaire were used to assess depression and diabetes-specific emotional distress in 1200 newly diagnosed male adult patients with type 2 diabetes before and after a two-week diabetes education by professionally trained nurses. Pearson correlation and regression analysis were used to analyze the factors related to depression in patients with type 2 diabetes.

The incidence of depression in newly diagnosed patients with type 2 diabetes was 28%, and the rate of diabetes-specific emotional distress was 65.5%. High education levels, low income were correlated to depression in individuals with diabetes. After two weeks of diabetes education, the incidence of depression and diabetes-specific emotional distress decreased significantly to 20.5% (P < 0.05) and 11% (P < 0.001), respectively.

The incidence of depression, especially diabetes-specific emotional distress, was relatively high in newly diagnosed patients with type 2 diabetes. The depression state could be improved by diabetes education.