Glucose status and depressive symptoms: a cohort study of elderly people in northwest Finland.

To assess the association between depressive symptoms and impaired glucose metabolism in the elderly population in arctic latitudes. A population-based study. Community. The study population consisted of 1,830 subjects born between the years 1915 and 1958 in the northernmost part of Finland, the Muonio-Enontekiö district, who participated in a health survey during 1974-1984. In 2014, a health questionnaire was sent to 1,037 subjects, and 757 participants (73%) answered it. Those ( = 629) living in the Muonio-Enontekiö district undergone a clinical examination in 2014 and 2015 including blood collections. Depressive symptoms defined by the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI II) with a cut-off point of 14. Different diabetic states based on WHO's classification criteria defined by fasting plasma glucose and ADA's criteria by glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) values. According to logistic regression analysis, depressive symptoms (BDI-II ≥ 14) were associated statistically significantly with previously known type 2 diabetes, the odds ratio (OR) being 4.33 (95% CI 1.53-14.14). Regarding prediabetic fasting glucose/HbA1c values, the corresponding OR was 2.94 (95% CI 1.17-8.94). The prevalence of depressive symptoms (BDI-II ≥ 14) was 7.1%, (men 9.7% and women 5.4%) and 13.7% (men 9.9% and women 17.0%) in subjects living in Muonio-Enontekiö district and in those who had moved away from there, respectively. The association of depressive symptoms between prediabetes and diabetes seems to be present also in the northernmost latitudes of the world.