Diabetes and depression were not associated in Venezuelan adults: The EVESCAM study, a national cross-sectional...

Evidence suggests that depression is more common in patients with diabetes than in the general population. However, contradictory results expose controversy in this association.

To evaluate the relationship between diabetes and depression in a national sample of Venezuelan adults.

The EVESCAM was a national population-based, cross-sectional, randomized cluster sampling study, which assessed 3,454 adults from July 2014 to January 2017 (response rate of 77.3%). Diabetes was defined using fasting blood glucose and a 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test. Depressive symptoms were determined using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.

3255 subjects were assessed. Depressive symptom score was different between genders and among age groups (p<0.001), and similar in those subjects with or without diabetes (p=0.899). Depressive symptoms prevalence was higher in women than in men and increased with age (p<0.05), but was similar in those with and without diabetes (p=0.215). Using a multivariate regression analysis model, the association of depressive symptoms and diabetes remains non-significant after adjusting for age and gender (Odds ratio=0.98; 95% Confidence Intervals 0.95 - 1.02, p=0.504).

Diabetes and depression were not associated in a large sample of Venezuelan adults.