Is depression an independent risk factor for the onset of Type 2 diabetes mellitus?

Depression is one of the most common mental illnesses characterized by loss of pleasure, whereas diabetes is a metabolic disorder which leads to high serum glucose levels. Current literature supports the development of depressive symptoms in patients with chronic illnesses including diabetes. However, depression as a potential risk factor for diabetes has attracted a lot of attention for clinicians and researchers. It has been hypothesized that both diabetes and depression may be bidirectional in nature, and each may exacerbate the symptoms or play an important role in the development of the other. The most common association between them is the diagnosis of depression in Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes. As the matter of fact, diabetes has been reported to double the risk of depression. In this review article, we have summarized various scientific studies to evaluate the potential of depression as a risk factor for diabetes. MEDLINE search identified various articles assessing this hypothesis. Our review of literature indicate some support for depression as a risk factor for Type 2 diabetes however more clinical studies need to be performed to clarify the contribution of depression as an independent risk factor for diabetes and to check the diabetes epidemic from escalating at a higher rate.