Diabetes and depression

There is good evidence of a link between diabetes and depression and new research from the Harvard School of Public Health suggests that the link could work in both directions. The researchers studied 65,381 women who were aged between 50 and 75 in 1996. The women filled out a questionnaire about their medical history at the start of the study and every two years thereafter. Over the course of the study 2,844 of the women developed type 2 diabetes and 7,415 developed depression. The women with depression were about 17% more likely to develop diabetes, even after taking into account other risk factors such as physical activity and weight, while the women with diabetes were 29% more likely to develop depression.

Antipsychotics and diabetes

More people are being prescribed antipsychotic drugs these days and more people are developing type 2 diabetes. But is there a link between taking antipsychotic medication and developing diabetes? So far the evidence is unclear but a team of researchers from the University of Copenhagen studied 1,772,425 people (about a third of the total Danish population) in an attempt to find out. 345,937 people had been prescribed antipsychotics and 50,739 developed diabetes over the course of the study, which ran from 1996 to 2005. Treatment with 'first-generation' antipsychotics led to a 53% increase in risk and 'second-generation' antipsychotics had a 32% increase. The incidence of diabetes increased in line with the number of prescriptions and the number of different drugs people were prescribed.

Kessing, Lars Vedel ... [et al] - Treatment with antipsychotics and the risk of diabetes in clinical practice Britsih Journal of Psychiatry October 2010, 197(4), 266-271

Antidepressants and diabetes risk

Long-term use of antidepressants could be linked to an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Researchers from University College London studied more than 150,000 Finnish adults over an average of five years. 1.1% of the participants who were not using antidepressants were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes during the course of the study compared to 1.7% of people who had taken between 200-400 daily doses of an antidepressant and 2.3% among those who had taken 400 or more daily doses. This could be because people taking the antidepressants have the poor health and lifestyle that often go hand-in-hand with type 2 diabetes. However, when the researchers looked at the participants who were suffering from severe depression those taking antidepressants were two-three times more likely than non users to be diagnosed with diabetes, even when taking into account the effects of long-term health conditions, high blood pressure, heart disease and cancer.

Type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease - shedding more light on the link

There has already been a lot of research linking type 2 diabetes with Alzheimer's disease but it can be difficult to assess which people with type 2 diabetes go on to develop Alzheimer's. Researchers from the University of Alberta studied 499 people aged between 55 and 81, 41 of whom had type 2 diabetes. They found that having high blood pressure, problems with walking and balance and reporting oneself as being in a poor state of health all increased the risk of people with type 2 diabetes developing Alzheimer's disease.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.

Drug company pays out in diabetes cases

Anglo-Swedish drug company AstraZeneca is to pay out £125m to people who developed diabetes after taking its schizophrenia and bipolar drug Seroquel. Seroquel had worldwide sales of $4.9bn last year, representing 15% of AstraZeneca's total revenue. The payment settles 17,500 claims against the company.

You can find out more about this story by clicking on the link in the title of this post.

Slowing down the dementia epidemic

Researchers estimate that 820,000 people in the U.K. have dementia - a number predicted to double by 2050. A team of researchers in France and the U.K. have been looking at the best ways to prevent more people developing the condition and have concluded that fighting diabetes and depression, eating more fruit and vegetables and having a better-educated population are the way forward. The researchers studied 1,433 people, all over 65, in the South of France. They tested their cognition two, four and seven years after the start of the study and asked the participants a number of questions about their lifestyle and education. They then used the results to estimate how much different measures could reduce the percentage of people developing Alzheimer's. They found that a combination of eliminating depression and diabetes and increasing fruit and vegetable consumption would lead to a 21% drop in new cases of dementia. Eliminating depression would have the most powerful effect leading to a 10% fall in the number of cases. Increasing education could lead to an 18% reduction in new cases of Alzheimer's more than double the effect of eliminating the main, known genetic risk factor which would only lead to a 7% fall.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.

Diabetes and declining cognition

Researchers from the Netherlands have added more evidence to the idea that there is a link between diabetes and a decline in cognitive function. The researchers from the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment studied 2,600 men and women between the ages of 45 and 70 who were taking part in a long-term study into the effects of lifestyle on health. 61 had type-2 (adult-onset) diabetes at the start of the study and 78 developed it over the next five years. Over a five-year period the decline in mental functioning was three times greater in the people with type-2 diabetes. Those who had had diabetes at the start of the study had the largest decline but even those who had developed it more recently showed double the risk. The drop in function occured mostly in the first five years and then levelled off suggesting that early intervention to help people control their blood sugar could be crucial to preventing cognitive decline.

You can find out more about this research at

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE65A6DN20100611?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

PTSD raises diabetes risk

Post-traumatic stress disorder could raise the risk of developing diabetes. Edward J. Boyko of the Department of Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System studied 44,754 service people enrolled in the Department of Defense's long-term Millennium Cohort Study. Three years later 376 of them reported that they had been newly diagnosed with diabetes. Those who developed diabetes were more likely to be overweight or obese, African-American or Asian, to have PTSD symptoms and to have left the military. After taking into account other factors, such as age, weight and race the risk of diabetes was found to be more than twice as high in the presence of PTSD symptoms. There was no increased risk for people with depression although this has been linked to an increased risk of diabetes in previous studies.

You can find out more about this research at

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE64N4JK20100524?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

Depression, diabetes and dementia - the unholy trinity of ageing

A study led by Dr Wayne Katon from the University of Washington has been looking into the unholy trinity of diabetes, depression and dementia. Diabetes and major depression have both been found to be risk factors for dementia. Diabetes increases the risk of dementia by between 40 and 100% while a history of depression more than doubles the subsequent risk of Alzheimer's disease. Depression is also more common in people with diabetes and the study looked into the effects of depression and diabetes together on the risk of developing dementia. The study looked at 3,837 people with diabetes of whom 455 had major depression. 7.9% of people with diabetes and depression developed dementia over the course of the five-year study compared to only 4.8% of those with diabetes alone. The researchers calculated that major depression and diabetes had a 2.7x greater risk of dementia than diabetes alone.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100305163038.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Diabetes, stress and cognitive decline

There has already been quite a bit of research linking diabetes to cognitive decline and a new study from researchers at Edinburgh suggests that stress can also play a part in this link. The researchers studied more than 900 men and women, aged between 60 and 75 with type-2 (adult-onset) diabetes. They tracked people's memories, information-processing abilities and general intelligence over time and found that those people with higher levels of a hormone called cortisol - known to be associated with stress - had declined more.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100222100807.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Diabetes and dementia

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is often seen as a precursor to dementia but there is no real way of knowing which people with MCI will go on to suffer from dementia. Researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, followed 103 men and women with MCI over four years and found that 19 of them developed dementia over the course of the study. People who had diabetes - which has previously been linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer's - were nearly three times as likely to develop dementia as those without.

You can find out more about this research at

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE60D5RH20100114?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

Depression, diabetes and ethnic minorities

Rates of depression in people with diabetes are double those in the general population and even higher among minority groups who have worse blood-sugar control, more diabetes complications and more severe depression. However, few studies have looked at the beneficial effects of treating depression in people from minority groups who have diabetes. Researchers from Charles Drew University in Los Angeles studied 89 diabetes patients. 45 received the antidepressant sertraline while 44 took a placebo. Blood sugar and blood pressure fell significantly more in the group taking sertraline. The researchers concluded that people with diabetes should be routinely screened for depression and that those who are depressed should consider taking medication.

You can find out more about this research at

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE5BF57220091216?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

Diabetes and Alzheimer's

Diabetes has been found to increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease but it is unclear what effect it has on people who already have the condition. Researchers from the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research in Toulouse followed 608 people with mild-moderate Alzheimer's for four years and tested their memory and thinking skills twice a year. 63 of the sample had diabetes. The study found that the participants with diabetes actually declined less over the course of the study. The researchers thought that the participants with diabetes might also be taking medicine for cardiovascular problems improving their circulation and helping to mitigate some of the effects of Alzheimer's.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091027161521.htm

Diabetes, ketoacidosis and memory problems

Diabetic ketoacidosis occurs when the body lacks insulin and burns fat for energy instead of sugar. This can lead to nausea, vomiting and fatigue and a feeling of mental sluggishness. There is anecdotal evidence of children with diabetes having memory problems and a team of researchers from the University of California, Davis looked into the links between diabetes, ketoacidosis and memory problems in a study of 62 children. 33 of the children had had an episode of diabetic ketoacidosis in the past and these children were found to perform significantly worse on memory tests.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091019134718.htm

Diabetes and dementia

People with diabetes lack the ability to control the amount of sugar in their bloodstream. High levels of sugar can be damaging to people's health and there is known to be a link between diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. But very low levels of blood sugar can be just as damaging and researchers from the Kaiser Permanente health organisation in the U.S. looked into the links between being admitted to hospital suffering from low levels of blood sugar and the risk of developing dementia. They studied records covering over 20 years from more than 16,600 people with type 2 diabetes. They found that people who had been to hospital once with low blood sugar had a 2.6% greater risk of dementia, those who had been twice had a 115% greater risk and those who had been three times had a 160% greater risk.

You can find out more about this research at

http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUKTRE53D3MR20090414?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&sp=true

Postnatal depression and diabetes

Pregnant women and new mothers with diabetes could be at an increased risk of developing postnatal depression. A study of 11,000 pregnant women in New Jersey between July 2004 and September 2006 found that the women with diabetes had nearly twice the risk of suffering from postnatal depression. Previous research has linked diabetes with depression and the link held true for women with type 1, type 2 and gestational (linked to pregnancy) diabetes. The study was carried out by researchers at Harvard Medical School and looked at the six months before a woman gave birth and the year afterwards.

You can find out more about this research at

http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUKN2442131420090224?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&sp=true

Diabetes and dementia

It is well known that diabetes is a risk factor for mild cognitive impairment, vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease and previous studies have shown that people with diabetes are 1.5 times more likely to experience cognitive decline and develop dementia than those without the condition. Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Centre studied nearly 3,000 people aged 55 and over. They measured their blood sugar levels and gave them a 30-minute series of tests to measure their cognitive performance. The study found that a 1% increase in average blood glucose levels corresponded to slightly lower scores for psychomotor speed, cognitive function, memory and multi-tasking ability.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090211101723.htm

Diabetes and cognition

A study of 465 adults between the ages of 53 and 90 by researchers at the University of Alberta has found that diabetes can affect people's thought processes. The study compared 41 people with diabetes with 424 people without the condition. The study found that people with diabetes had slower response times and poorer executive functioning which is the ability to focus, to work with new information to solve problems and to give thoughtful answers to questions. Diabetes is known to raise the risk of Alzheimer's disease and the high blood sugar levels caused by the condition can damage both blood vessels and nerves.

You can find out more about this research at

http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUKTRE4BU3MP20081231?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

Antipsychotics and diabetes

Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases affecting 3-4% of the population. This proportion is predicted to double by 2030, largely as a result of an ageing population and an increased incidence of obesity. Type 1 diabetes, which begins in childhood, accounts for 10-15% of cases with type 2 diabetes, which begins in adulthood, making up the remainder. The prevalence of diabetes has been reported to be two to three times higher among people with schizophrenia than in the rest of the population and there has been increasing concern that antipsychotics - particularly newer, second-generation ones - are associated with an increased risk. A review of 14 studies compared the relative risk of first- and second-generation antipsychotics and concluded that the second generation ones led to a 32% increase in the risk of developing diabetes.

Smith, M. ... [et al] - First- v. second-generation antipsychotics and risk for diabetes in schizophrenia: systematic review and meta-analysis British Journal of Psychiatry June 2008, 192(6), 406-411

Depression and diabetes

A study of 2,400 residents of Saskatchewan, Canada, who were diagnosed with depression and who were taking antidepressants has found that they had a 30% increased risk of type 2 (adult onset) diabetes. The participants in the study were divided into four groups : those who took older, tricyclic antidepressants ; those who took newer SSRI antidepressants ; those who took a combination of older and newer drugs and those in the process of switching from one medication to another. The risk of developing type 2 diabetes was almost doubled for those patients who were using a combination of older and newer antidepressants. People are usually prescribed more than one type of medication if they have severe depression or if they are having a problem finding the right therapy.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/03/26/depression-ups-risk-of-diabetes/2079.html