Effects of Depression on Aspects of Self-Care in Type 2 Diabetes

Abstract

Aims and Objectives: Depression is common among patients with chronic medical illnesses. The impact of depressive symptoms in patients with type 2 diabetes on self-care and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) was explored. Background: Depression is known to decrease compliance with most medical regimens. This study investigated depression’s effects on different aspects of compliance with a diabetic regimen. Design: Cross-sectional, correlational, quantitative study. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using data from 126 patients with type 2 diabetes from a diabetes education class. Participants completed depression and self-care inventories. Regression analyses were performed to determine the impact of depressive symptoms on the dependent variables of compliance to diabetes self-care and HbA1c levels. Results: Levels of depression were significantly and inversely correlated with 1) total self-care scores, accounting for 5.1% of the variance, 2) compliance with glucose self-monitoring accounting for 3.4% of the variance, and 3) compliance with diet accounting for 9.3% of the variance. Levels of depression were not significantly related to HbA1c. Conclusions: Depressive symptoms are associated with poorer total self-care, poorer glucose self-monitoring, and poorer dietary compliance in type 2 diabetes patients. Depression scores help explain variations in patients’ performance with aspects of compliance to diabetes management. Relevance to clinical practice: Administering a personality questionnaire, perhaps on the initial visit could enable the clinical to know which aspects of diabetes self-care are affected by depression, which would enable the clinician to more closely monitor melancholic patients in the effort to improve glycemic control and medical outcomes.