Depression Heightens Eye Problems for Diabetics

Fri, 05 Aug 2011
New research has shown that diabetics who also get depression are more likely to develop diabetic retinopathy.

Diabetic retinopathy damages the retina when diabetes is improperly managed; it is the main cause of blindness in people aged between 25 and 74.

The research had controls for smoking, obesity and a sedentary lifestyle andHbA1c levels, yet it still discovered that depression was linked to an increased risk likelihood of developing retinopathy.

HbA1c is a blood test which measures an individual's average blood sugar levels over many months.

2,359 diabetics were monitored for levels of depression by the use of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, a self-reporting survey system for depression symptoms.

In the five-year follow-up period, 22.9 percent of the diabetics who had PHQ-9 scores that ranked as "major depression" developed diabetic retinopathy, in contrast to 19.7 percent of the diabetics who did not have depression.

The findings highlight that psychobiologic changes linked to depression, such as, higher cortisol levels and blood-clotting factors could be related to the development of retinopathy.

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