In a new study from the National Taiwan University Hospital, researchers found people with diabetes and depression who take antidepressants may have a lower risk of death and of serious diabetes complications.
People with diabetes face a higher risk of depression, which makes them more likely to die or develop diabetes complications including heart and kidney disease, stroke, eye, and foot problems.
Depression makes diabetes complications worse due to stress, body weight changes, and lack of exercise.
In the study, the team found people with depression and diabetes have poorer health outcomes than those with diabetes alone, and regular antidepressant treatment could lower their risk of complications.
People who adhere to their antidepressants have better diabetes outcomes and quality of life than those with poor adherence.
The researchers conducted a nationwide retrospective cohort study of 36,276 patients with depression and diabetes to determine if antidepressants could improve diabetes outcomes.
They found the regular antidepressant treatment was associated with a lower risk of death and heart disease.
If you care about depression, please read studies about women with this health problem twice as likely to suffer depression and findings of lower dose of this depression drug can effectively reduce pain.
For more information about depression and your health, please see recent studies about a major cause of depression in older people and results showing that high smoking dependence linked to depression.
The study is published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. One author of the study is Shi-Heng Wang, Ph.D.
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