Friday, April 5, 2013

Increase in Diabetic Complications With Coexisting Depression

Diabetes in itself would rather have been less problematic if it did not create complex health issues combining with other minor health problems and finally leading to serious complications. As per a study published by NIMH, type 2 diabetes when combined with depression, may lead to serious health problems. Depression is one of the silent side effects that diabetes may have. Mental anguish and depression due to the disease are seldom spoke about or even considered in the treatment process. Rather, insulin management and blood sugar control is given the priority.

If you diabetic and often remain depressed, talking about it to your doctor is as important as you consider any other serious symptom related to the disease. A simple antidepressant can make you feel better but unless you get yourself disclosed in front of the doctor they can't be able to help you out. You can also try to ease off yourself on personal level. Avoid cutting yourself off from the society. Spend time with your family and friends. Try being merry and enjoy your life. Every person may have some type of health and therefore thinking about it every moment would do no good. Have proper sleep and enough rest from work so that you remain fresh both mentally and physically. It will prevent any stress development.

Depression is mostly associated with diabetes. These two health issues when present together may increase the symptoms of both the diseases. Such individuals may need to take extra care and medical treatment in comparison to those who only have diabetes but no depression. A study was conducted by medical researchers from Group Health Research Institute and University of Washington, in which they examined 4,623 patients who were enrolled for a group health plan in Washington. They were first interviewed in 2000 and 2002 and later on again interviewed in 2005 and 2007. The micro vascular and macro vascular complications of the patients were tracked. Micro vascular complications refer to end stage kidney diseases, blindness, kidney failure deaths and amputations. Macro vascular complications include strokes, heart attacks, cardiovascular problems and death due to these issues.

The Study

In the interview conducted during the in initial phase it was observed that 14% of the participants had developed greater micro vascular complication and 24% of them developed severe macro vascular complication. After the five years tenure of the study, patients suffering from depression along with diabetes were observe to have developed 36% higher risk of developing micro vascular complications and 25% of greater risk of macro vascular complications comparing those who were not having depression.

Conclusion from the Study

As a result of the study it was concluded that patients suffering from depression along with diabetes were more susceptible to serious or even fatal health issues. This made the medical professionals to get aware that diabetes treatment should not only be concentrated to proper working of insulin or its proper secretion but treating depression is also a factor to be considered in the treatment process.

Future Needs for Treatment Advancement

Further research has to be done to find out the exact reason what brings such a relation between the two health issues. A treatment process is to be developed that tackles both these issues simultaneously. A proper screening process is to be developed so that a diabetic patient can be identified if he/she is at risk of developing serious depression or any other related health complications that may make the treatment process even more tedious.

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