Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Apr;69(4):410-7.
doi: 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2011.154. Epub 2011 Dec 5.

Association of depression with increased risk of dementia in patients with type 2 diabetes: the Diabetes and Aging Study

Wayne Katon  1 , Courtney R Lyles, Melissa M Parker, Andrew J Karter, Elbert S Huang, Rachel A Whitmer
Affiliations

Association of depression with increased risk of dementia in patients with type 2 diabetes: the Diabetes and Aging Study

Wayne Katon et al. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2012 Apr.

Abstract

Context: Although depression is a risk factor for dementia in the general population, its association with dementia among patients with diabetes mellitus has not been well studied.

Objective: To determine whether comorbid depression in patients with type 2 diabetes increases the risk of development of dementia.

Design: The Diabetes and Aging Study was a cohort investigation that surveyed a racially/ethnically stratified random sample of patients with type 2 diabetes.

Setting: A large, integrated, nonprofit managed care setting in Northern California.

Participants: A sample of 19,239 diabetes registry members 30 to 75 years of age.

Main outcome measures: The Patient Health Questionnaire 8, International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) diagnoses of depression, and/or antidepressant prescriptions in the 12 months prior to baseline were used to identify prevalent cases of depression. Clinically recognized dementia was identified among subjects with no prior ICD-9 Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) diagnoses of dementia. To exclude the possibility that depression was a prodrome of dementia, dementia diagnoses were only based on ICD-9-CM diagnoses identified in years 3 to 5 postbaseline. The risk of dementia for patients with depression and diabetes relative to patients with diabetes alone was estimated using Cox proportional hazard regression models that adjusted for sociodemographic, clinical, and health risk factors and health use.

Results: During the 3- to 5-year period, 80 of 3766 patients (2.1%) with comorbid depression and diabetes (incidence rate of 5.5 per 1000 person-years) vs 158 of 15,473 patients (1.0%) with diabetes alone (incidence rate of 2.6 per 1000 person-years) had 1 or more ICD-9-CM diagnoses of dementia. Patients with comorbid depression had a 100% increased risk of dementia during the 3 to 5 years postbaseline (adjusted hazard ratio, 2.02; 95% confidence interval, 1.73-2.35).

Conclusion: Depression in patients with diabetes was associated with a substantively increased risk for development of dementia compared with those with diabetes alone.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Knol MJ, Twisk JW, Beekman AT, Heine RJ, Snoek FJ, Pouwer F. Depression as a risk factor for the onset of type 2 diabetes mellitus. A meta-analysis. Diabetologia. 2006;49(5):837–845. - PubMed
    1. Mezuk B, Eaton WW, Albrecht S, Golden SH. Depression and type 2 diabetes over the lifespan: a meta-analysis. Diabetes Care. 2008;31(12):2383–2390. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lu FP, Lin KP, Kuo HK. Diabetes and the risk of multi-system aging phenotypes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One. 2009;4(1):e4144. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jorm AF. Is depression a risk factor for dementia or cognitive decline? A review. Gerontology. 2000;46(4):219–227. - PubMed
    1. Ownby RL, Crocco E, Acevedo A, John V, Loewenstein D. Depression and risk for Alzheimer disease: systematic review, meta-analysis, and metaregression analysis. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2006;63(5):530–538. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types