Comorbid Depression in Patients With Diabetes

• Main Authors: HSIEH CHENG-HAN, 謝承翰
• Other Authors: Ling-Ling Yeh
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/85589282651460321428

碩士 === 亞洲大學 === 健康產業管理學系健康管理組 === 101 === This study aimed to investigate the annual incidence and prevalence of depression in patients initially diagnosed as diabetes in Taiwan and to detect related factors. It hopes that research results will offer value information for health authorities to develop medical care policies for diabetics and avoid higher economic burden of society caused by comorbid depression in future. The retrospective analysis of secondary data was adopted. The data source was the National Health Insurance Registry for Beneficiaries from 1998 to 2010. Among the patients with diabetes (ICD-9-CM: 250 or A-code: A181) in 1999, 814 patients were initially diagnosed as diabetes with those who were diagnosed as diabetes or mental disorders previously excluded. The control group included 86840 non-diabetes patients in 1999. A 12-year follow-up investigation of the incidence and prevalence of depression was conducted, followed by analysis of related factors. The results showed that patients initially diagnosed as diabetes had higher cumulative incidence (12.1% vs 8.9%) and higher prevalence (1.1%-3.4% vs 0.6%-2.0%) of depression than the non-diabetes group. The average time period of patients initially diagnosed as diabetes to develop depression was 4.62 years and that of non-diabetes patients was 5.66 years (P=0.01). The risk of patients initially diagnosed as diabetes suffering from depression was 1.24 times higher than that of non-diabetes patients (P=0.04). The risk of the low-income diabetics suffering from depression was 9.764 times higher than that of the non-low-income diabetics (P<0.0001). According to the results of study, patients initially diagnosed as diabetes have a higher risk of suffering from depression compared with non-diabetes patients, and especially the low-income diabetics even have a higher risk. Therefore, it is suggested that policy makers should promote a screening mechanism for the mental health status of diabetics, establish an intact assessment procedure of the mental health status for diabetics requiring regular revisit, and provide support groups for diabetics with economic difficulties to give appropriate care and share the stress of diabetics and their families.