Research in Medicine

Background : Diabetes mellitus is a common chronic metabolic disease. Optimal management of psychiatric problems, especially depression, may lead to better control of blood glucose levels in diabetics. Unfortunately, depression is usually neglected in medical diseases. We evaluated the prevalence of depression using a simple test, (Beck test), to screen for depression in diabetics.

 Material and methods : One hundred known diabetic patients were evaluated for the presence of symptoms of depression using the Beck Questionnaire. Age, marital status, sex, duration of diabetes, type of diabetes, and history of taking antidepressants were recorded.

 Results : Based on Beck test, depression was discovered in seventy eight percent of diabetics. There were significant differences between depressed and non-depressed individuals regarding sex, complications of disease, duration of diabetes and age (p<0.005, p<0.001, p<0.05, p<0.005, respectively).

 Conclusion : Our findings revealed high prevalence of depression symptoms among diabetic patients. Considering the conventional simple therapies for depression, proper screening among diabetics seems to be necessary.