Association between the type of diabetes treatment and depressive symptoms among patients with diabetes: A cross-sectional study of korea community health surveys data, 2011–2016

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between the different types of treatment for diabetes and depressive symptoms. In particular, this study assessed the presence of depressive symptoms in patients with diabetes who are undergoing pharmacological treatments in terms of sex. This study used data from the 2011–2016 Korea Community Health Survey, which included responses from 50,774 male and 48,978 female participants with diabetes who were receiving pharmacological treatments. Patients aged ≥30 years were included. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to examine the significance of the association. Male participants treated with insulin injection were more likely to experience depressive symptoms than those taking oral hypoglycemic (oral agents) only (odds ratio (OR) = 1.27; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.04–1.56). Male patients treated with both oral agents and insulin injection had the highest OR value of depressive symptoms among different types of treatments (OR = 1.41, 95% CI: 1.25–1.60). The same tendency was observed in female participants. In female patients, however, the association between depressive symptoms and insulin injection was statistically insignificant (both oral agents and insulin injection OR = 1.35, 95% CI: 1.22–1.50, insulin injection OR = 1.17, 95% CI: 0.98–1.41). The association between depressive symptoms and the type of diabetes treatment was more significant in male than in female patients. Those who were treated with oral agents and insulin injection were more likely to have depressive symptoms than those receiving oral agents of treatment.