Endocrine Abstracts

Purpose: To investigate the impact of depression for diabetes-related quality of life and glycemic control among Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes and their family members.

Methods: Ambulatory patients with type 2 diabetes were drawn consecutively from the inpatient population participated in a 2-week educational intervention program at two general hospitals affiliated with Hiroshima University. Written informed consent for the study was obtained from 123 patients and 75 family members. Before and after the intervention program, the subjects and their family members completed the Zung self-rating depression scale, the Zung self-rating anxiety scale (SAS), and the subjects also completed the diabetes quality of life (DQOL) and the problem areas in diabetes scale. Family functioning was assessed by the family assessment device (FAD) before the program. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Boards and the Ethics Committees of those two hospitals and Hiroshima University.

Results: ‘Depressed patients’ (n=69; SDS at baseline ≥40) perceived significantly worse diabetes-related quality of life including family functioning than ‘non-depressed patients’ (n=54; SDS at baseline <40) before the intervention. At the 6-month follow-up after the intervention. Depressed patients apparently improved in their mood, but still reported significantly worse diabetes-related quality of life including family functioning and tended to show higher HbA1c values than non-depressed patients. Furthermore, at the 6-month follow-up, family members of depressed patients perceived significantly higher level of conflict in their families than those of non-depressed patients.

Conclusion: The findings of the study suggested that, as for patients with diabetes, depression at baseline might predict worse quality of life, less effective family functioning, and worse glycemic control afterward. Consequently, diabetes care professionals should devote attention to taking care of mood status of patients, and intervene to promote appropriate affective interaction among patients and their family members.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This work was supported, however, funding details unavailable.