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In one of the first studies to find such a correlation, investigators found that impaired fasting blood sugar level was a significant predictor of depressive symptoms in a sample of 45 adults older than 64 years who did not have a previous history of diabetes.
The findings were unexpected and medical professionals should be aware of this possibility in their pre-diabetic geriatric patients and not just in their diabetic ones, lead author Jaclynn Moskow, a third-year medical student at Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, stated. She added, “Although the reason for this association is unclear at this time, it may be related to a particular vascular process. It could be that there is some sort of underlying vascular change in the brain that is responsible.”
Previous research has shown that depression and diabetes are highly correlated. “Diabetic individuals are more likely to have depression than non-diabetics, and it has been shown that depression increases the risk of developing diabetes,” write the researchers. In fact, an earlier meta-analysis “showed that depressed adults were 37% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than non-depressed adults,” report the investigators. “
“There’s a lot out there about depression and diabetes. So we were interested in examining the relationship between blood sugar levels and depression in a population that did not have diabetes,” said Moskow. Results showed that after adjusting for age, sex, BMI, and insulin levels, fasting blood glucose was still a significant predictor of depressive symptoms.
George Alexpoulos, MD, professor of psychiatry and director of the Weill-Cornell Institute of Geriatric Psychiatry in White Plains, New York stated that, “This was an interesting association, but the specificity of the association was in question. We have to ask: does impaired level of glucose cause depressive symptoms? Or does it cause physical symptoms such as fatigue, demoralization, lack of motivation, or insomnia that all fall under the umbrella of depression? There wasn’t enough severity there to be able to qualify for depression.”
“We know that serious depression is associated with some neurobiological abnormalities and responds to antidepressants. Depressive symptoms tend to be unstable and often respond to environmental interventions. And it’s not clear if they belong to the same continuum, although they may be disabling,” he said.
Health-e-Solutions comment: Whether impaired fasting blood glucose causes depressive symptoms or just physical symptoms associated with depression is not so important to me to determine. If I can manage my blood glucose better, I may be able to mitigate any depressive or physical symptoms. This is another reason to change your lifestyle to improve the management of diabetes – or in this case even just slightly impaired fasting blood glucose.
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