Depression and related risk factors among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, Jazan area, KSA: A cross-sectional study.

PURPOSE: To determine the prevalence of depression and related risk factors among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients (T2DM) in Jazan area, Saudi Arabia.

METHOD: A cross sectional, self-administered questionnaire study was conducted among T2DM patients in Jazan area, Saudi Arabia. A total of 385 patients were selected at randomly. The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) was utilized to measure symptoms and signs of depression.

RESULTS: The overall prevalence of depression among T2DM patients was 37.6%. Of them, 24.2% were mildly depressed, 9.6% were moderately severely depressed, and 4.2% were severely depression. Significant predictors of depression include the presence of diabetic foot (P=0.000), cardio-vascular diseases (P=0.000), eye complication (P=0.073), and erectile dysfunction (P=0.090). The prevalence of depression was not significantly associated with the age (P=0.375) and gender (P=0.374). Similarly no association was found with duration of diabetes (P=0.475) and HbA1c (P=0.555).

CONCLUSION: The study revealed that diabetes complications are strong predictors of the rate of depression among T2DM patients. Therefore, early depression screening is needed to improve the quality of life of diabetic patients.