While it is common knowledge that
having a chronic disease increases chances of depression in patients, here is
evidence that indicates depression could also be a factor in causing chronic diseases
such as diabetes.
A paper published in Diabetes
Technology and Therapeutics, 2010, from Chennai showed higher levels of
depression among those newly detected with diabetes and those with impaired
glucose tolerance, as against those who had normal blood sugar levels.
Authored by S. Poongothai of Madras
Diabetes Research Foundation, as part of a series of articles she worked on for
her Ph.D, the paper is significant in that the tests were done in the community
and the depression noted before blood sugar tests were done.
Co-author V. Mohan, who heads Dr.
Mohan's Diabetes Specialities Centre, says, “What this article flags off is the
idea that depression itself may be a likely cause of diabetes.”
The subjects for the study were
recruited from the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiological Study. Of the total of
over 23,000 persons tested, there were 1218 people with newly- detected
Diabetes (NDD), 7,657 with impaired fasting glucose (IFG); and 14, 912 with
normal fasting glucose (NFG).
While the overall prevalence of
depression was 14.3 per cent, an increasing prevalence was seen with increasing
grades of glucose tolerance: NFG (13.1 per cent), IFG (15.7 per cent) and NDD
(19.7 per cent), being higher among women at all grades.
Depression can increase the risk of
diabetes due to increased levels of counter-regulatory hormones, which can lead
to obesity, insulin resistance and glucose intolerance, Dr. Poonothai says in
the paper. “The lesson in this is that not only should we treat diabetics for
depression, but that by treating depression, the person may actually be able to
side-step diabetes,” Dr. Mohan explains.
His recommendation is also that
everyone with depression must be screened for diabetes as well.
3 comments:
very true a phase in my life left me helpless and the situation somehow led me to beleive that i was dependant on that source and when that was denied i felt at a loss and that increased my depression and i got diabetes...sunkan
Tension leads to depression which culminates in eruption of all sorts of diseases. Hence one should be calm and cool and should develop the ability not to take things to heart which is not as per once wish.
Depression itself may be a cause of diabetes treatment, is good information for us. But if we use Herbal Diabetic Products Online then we get best result.
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