Depression and adherence to lifestyle changes in type 2 diabetes: a systematic review

Depression affects millions of people worldwide and is prevalent among those with diabetes. The purpose of this review was to synthesize recent research on depression and adherence to dietary and physical activity recommendations in persons with type 2 diabetes (T2DM).

This systematic review is a subanalysis of an NIH-funded model-testing meta-analysis. Thirteen electronic databases were searched using terms: depression, adherence, T2DM, diabetes. Selected studies: were reported in English between 2000 and 2012, focused on adults with T2DM, and measured depression and dietary and/or physical activity adherence.

Twenty-seven studies involving 7266 participants were selected; participants were 54% female and 62 years of age, on average. When reported, depression prevalence in study samples ranged from 4.5% to 74%. Six intervention studies targeted diabetes treatment, with or without depression treatment; no studies focused solely on treating depression. Twenty-one descriptive studies examined relationships between depression and diet/physical activity adherence, finding a negative association. Only 2 of the 6 intervention studies examined this relationship; findings were inconsistent.

Depression was associated with lower adherence to diabetes self-care, as evidenced primarily by descriptive studies; results of intervention studies were conflicting. Future research should focus on the effects of treating depression on diabetes health outcomes.