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Women with diabetes and depression are more likely to die of heart complications

Category: Diabetes

Insulin testing may help reveal a woman's risk of dying from heart disease. A new study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry has found that women with both depression and type 2 diabetes are much more likely to die from cardiovascular complications.

Doctors have long noted a relationship between the three conditions, and it is well known that both diabetes and depression increase heart risk. However this is one of the first investigations to show the full extent of the risk for women who have both. Anywhere from 20 to 25 percent of diabetics also have depression.

For the study, researchers examined the records of 78,282 women. They assessed the women for diabetes and depression over a period of six years.

They found that women who had both conditions were 2.7 times more likely to die from heart disease than healthy women.

"Considering the size of the population that could be affected by these two prevalent disorders, further consideration is required to design strategies aimed to provide adequate psychological management and support among those with longstanding chronic conditions, such as diabetes," the authors wrote in their report.