Depression Tied to Hospitalizations in Young Diabetics

Adolescents with type 1 diabetes who exhibit high levels of depressive symptoms have an increased risk of hospitalization for diabetes-related complications. Dr. Sunita M. Stewart pointed out that, "it is important for health-care professionals and parents of children with diabetes to know that these teens are more likely than kids without diabetes to become depressed." It is also important "that they educate themselves about the signs and symptoms of depression."

Dr. Stewart of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas and colleagues examined the predictive value of self-reported depressive symptoms on hospitalization for complications of diabetes mellitus. A total of 231 type 1 diabetic adolescents completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D).

The investigators assessed glycosylated hemoglobin levels at clinic visits and recorded hospitalizations for medical complications that occurred up to 2 years after this assessment. Overall, 26 subjects (11% of the total group) were hospitalized at least once between baseline and the end of the study period.

After controlling for gender, age at onset, socioeconomic status, and HbA1c level, subjects with scores that fell above the CES-D cutoffs at study entry (cutoff point 12 for boys and 22 for girls) were twice as likely as those whose scores fell below cutoff points to be hospitalized before the end of the study period (odds ratio 2.58).

Thus, concluded Dr. Stewart, "teens with depression should be referred for mental health treatment. We know a lot about helping teens with depression, and in the case of these children, it is important both for their mental health and for their physical health that we do so."
Pediatrics 2005;115:1315-1319.

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