Diabetes and Depression: A Deadly Duo

Diabetes significantly increases your risk of heart disease on its own, but when combined with depression the risk jumps alarmingly higher. A new study from Harvard researchers revealed that women with diabetes had a 67 percent increased risk of dying from heart disease, those with depression had a 37 percent increased risk, and those with both conditions had a 2.7-fold increased risk.

It’s estimated that up to one-quarter of people with diabetes also suffer from depression, a rate that’s nearly twice as high as it is among those without diabetes. Both conditions are associated with unhealthy lifestyle behaviors, including poor eating habits, not exercising and smoking, although according to researchers depression may also:

• Lead to poor glycemic control
• Increase risk of diabetes complications
• Make it more difficult for you to manage diabetes properly
• Cause nervous system changes that negatively impact your heart

If you have either diabetes or depression, it’s important that you seek help right away, but if you have both of these conditions it is even more imperative. People with diabetes alone suffer from twice as many heart attacks as those without it. If you have depression, also, your risk of dying from a heart attack could become even higher.

Depression and diabetes together also raised women’s risk of dying from any cause during the study period, with those having both conditions facing about twice the risk of death.

So do not delay seeking treatment for both of these conditions, and remember that there are often natural options available. One technique that you can certainly add to your regimen, whether you suffer from diabetes, depression or both, is exercise.

Staying physically active will help you control your diabetes, and in some cases reverse it, while also being a proven way to boost your mood and help relieve depressive symptoms. There are many more strategies as well, including making changes to your diet, that can send both diabetes and depression packing.

So please take this information as a sign of hope, not defeat … and use it to proactively take steps to protect your heart health if you’re currently struggling with depression and diabetes.

Archives of General Psychiatry January 2011;68(1):42-50.

ScienceDaily January 4, 2011

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The Functional Endocrinology Center of Colorado is passionate about improving the lives and lifestyles of individuals with Type II Diabetes and Hashimoto’s Disease. Call us at 303-302-0930 to schedule your complimentary consultation.