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Treating depression prolongs life for elderly with diabetes

Depressed, older adults with diabetes live longer when they are treated for depression, according to results of a study in the journal Diabetes Care.

The depression study, which followed primary care patients in the New York City, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas for five years, also showed that treating depression reduced the death rate more for those who had diabetes than for those who did not.

“Depression is not only common in persons with diabetes but contributes to not taking medicines, not following prescribed diets, and overall reduced quality of life,” said lead researcher Dr Hillary R Bogner, assistant professor in the Department of Family Practice and Community Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Depression and diabetes are two of the most commonly treated health problems treated in primary care settings. Previous studies have drawn a link between diabetes and depression, and found that the combination of the two leads to an increased risk of premature death. This new study is the first known to examine the relationship between diabetes and mortality in a depression intervention trial.

The results led the researchers to conclude that better models of care should be developed that integrate depression management into the treatment of people with diabetes.

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