BACKGROUND: Depression is associated with a variety of diabetes complications, including diabetic retinopathy, nephropathy, neuropathy, and macrovascular complications. The prevalence of the symptoms of anxiety (32%) and depression (22.4%) in patients with diabetes is considerably higher than in general population samples (10%). The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and determinants of anxiety and depression symptoms in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM).

MATERIAL AND METHODS: This survey was conducted during 2007-2010. In total, 1500 patients were invited to participate in the study. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was used to measure depression and anxiety for the evaluation of the depressive state and anxiety. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS 17.0.

RESULTS: More than 70% of all respondents who participated in the study had diabetes mellitus complications (72.2%). The prevalence of mild to severe depression score was 28.5% (95% CI 25.7–31.4). The prevalence of anxiety was 42.4% (95% CI 39.3–45.5). Anxiety was more frequent among females (46.8%) than among males (34.7%) (p<0.001). A significant negative trend was observed between prevalence of anxiety and depression, and age and education (p for trend <0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: A significant association between depression and diabetic complications was identified (p<0.05). Duration of diabetes was a risk factor significantly associated with higher scores of anxiety among the patients with T2DM.

Keywords: Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - complications, Depression, Anxiety - etiology, Depression - etiology, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - epidemiology, Epidemiologic Factors, Lithuania - epidemiology, Prevalence