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Item #3

Partners of Type 2 Diabetics Experience Depression, Anxiety As Much

The partners of patients with type 2 diabetes experience at least as much depression and anxiety as the diabetic patients themselves, especially if they are female.

Lawrence Fisher, Ph.D., at the University of California, San Francisco, in the United States, and colleagues assessed the levels of depressive affect and anxiety among partners of patients with type 2 diabetes. They also examined independent contributors to their depression and anxiety.

The researchers studied the partners of 75 Latino and 113 European-American patients with type 2 diabetes and assessed each partner's level of depressive affect and anxiety.

They also noted their level of potential stressors from three groups: demographics, including age, gender and education; patient disease status, including time since diagnosis, HbA(1c) level, comorbidities and body mass index; and family stress, including disease impact, spouse conflict and family closeness.

The investigators also measured dependent variables, such as partner depressive affect, using the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale, and anxiety, using the Symptom Checklist 9SCL-90. They also computed predictors of partner depressive affect and anxiety and partner-patient concordance rates.

Levels of depressive affect and anxiety and rates of likely depression were as high for partners as they were for patients, the researchers reported. They found no differences on depressive affect or anxiety by ethnicity. However, they noted female partners scored higher than male partners on both measures.

Partner-patient concordance rates were low, the investigators reported. The family level variables accounted for the most variance in both depressive affect and anxiety, with demographics and disease status variables contributing modest or nonsignificant independent variance.

"Partners of patients with type 2 diabetes experience levels of psychological distress as high or even higher than patients, especially if the partner is female," the researchers concluded. "Low levels of concordance suggest that partners can be distressed even if patients are not. Many life stresses contribute to psychological distress among partners, not just disease-related indicators. The findings suggest the utility of evaluating both partners and patients using a life-centred rather than a disease-focused perspective."  Diabetes Care 2002; 25: 1564-1570