- 期刊
- OpenAccess
Relationship between Diabetes and Depression Severity in Pregnant Females
並列摘要
BACKGROUND: Depression is a common mental illness found in all regions of the world. In Pakistan, depression is on top of the list among all psychiatric conditions. However, there are inconsistent findings regarding the relationship between diabetes, pregnancy and severity of depression. We aimed to identify the relationship between diabetes and depression severity in pregnant females. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, 498 age matched pregnant females were recruited, and categorized as normal glycemic (controls n=300) and diabetic (cases n=198). Aga Khan University Anxiety and Depression Scale was administered to analyze depression score, and blood glucose levels were measured. Data were presented as absolute count/ frequencies. Chi-square test, Spearman rank correlation and simple linear regression analysis were performed. P value of ＜0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: The mean age of the study subjects was 26.6±5 (years). Random blood glucose levels were 148.3±51.9 (mg/dl) for diabetic females and 123.6± 30.5(mg/dl) for non-diabetic females (p＜0.001). Majority of the diabetic females answered that they usually had little or no interest in doing daily chores (52%), felt depressed (52%) and tired (39.9%) or bad (35.6%) versus healthy controls (p＜0.01). About 23% diabetic females also admitted to having suicidal ideas and even giving half-hearted attempts to end their lives versus 13% healthy controls (p＜0.01). When stratified by glucose levels, 64.9% (n=135) females with diabetes and 44% (n=132) without diabetes reported to be depressed (p＜0.01). Logistic regression analysis revealed that females with raised blood glucose levels were more prone to be depressed (OR 1.20; CI 1.13- 1.27; p=0.01) when compared to females with normal blood glucose levels. An 11.5% positive correlation was found between glycemic status and depression scores. CONCLUSION: Depression is a common finding in pregnancy, which can be aggravated by poor glycemic control. Among other factors to relieve depression, health care physicians may also focus on a stricter glycemic control to improve maternal mental health status.