Individuals with diabetes mellitus with and without depressive symptoms: could social network explain the comorbidity?

OBJECTIVES

The main objective of the present study was to obtain an approximate prevalence of depressive symptoms in a community sample of persons with diabetes mellitus and to discover whether social networks could explain comorbidity of diabetes mellitus and depressive symptoms.

METHOD

Subjects were persons with diabetes mellitus, members of the Diabetes Association of Ljubljana (N = 396, average age: 62.9 +/- 13.4, average duration of diabetes: 17.2 +/- 10.6). Firstly, subjects were screened with CESD (Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale) and demographic data were also gathered. Secondly, two samples (individuals with and without depressive symptoms) were compared on the basis of social network analysis.

RESULTS

The prevalence of depressive symptoms was higher among persons with diabetes in comparison with general population. Individuals with depressive symptoms compared with individuals without depressive symptoms were less dissatisfied with diabetes (p = 0.011), and had better informational (p = 0.039) and instrumental support (p = 0.046), relations between them and support givers were closer (p = 0.050), more important and less conflicting (p = 0.042). Compared groups did not differ in quantitative characteristics of social networks (eg. size of the network or the network gender structure).

CONCLUSIONS

The community sample results in Slovenia support the already reported association between diabetes mellitus and depression. Furthermore, social network analysis offered some potentially relevant explanation for comorbidity of diabetes mellitus and depressive symptoms.