Study Tests Depression Treatment for Diabetes Patients

In Appalachia, diabetes hits hard. Depression does, too. Together, they form a difficult pair to beat.

To help patients fight back, a team of Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine (OU-COM) and Ohio University researchers have put together a new approach to the double-edged problem. Program ACTIVE (Appalachians Coming Together to Increase Vital Exercise) is a two-year intervention feasibility study to test the effectiveness of a combination of exercise and talk therapy as a treatment for depression in patients with type 2 diabetes.

“Diabetes is a difficult disease,” said Mary de Groot, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology and lead author of a paper produced by the research team. “Add depression on top of that, and it makes it that much tougher.”

Their paper, “Depression among type 2 Diabetes Rural Appalachian Clinic Attendees,” is published in the June issue of Diabetes Care, the journal of the American Diabetes Association.

The researchers point out that previously published studies have shown that depressive symptoms in diabetics are “associated with worsened blood glucose levels, diabetes complications, increased functional disability, worsened
adherence to diabetes regimen, higher ambulatory care costs, and increased mortality.”

The study looked at type 2 diabetes patients attending family medicine and endocrinology appointments in rural Appalachian counties of Southeastern Ohio and West Virginia. Of those 201 patients, 31 percent reported co-morbid diabetes and depression through completion of the Beck Depression Inventory, a self-report questionnaire assessment.

That rate is similar to the national co-morbidity rate, somewhat surprisingly low considering the relatively high rate of poverty where the patients live. For instance, Meigs County, Ohio, has a poverty rate of 19.8 percent, compared to 10.6 percent for the state of Ohio.

“My vision of it is that people in Appalachia have sort of a higher tolerance for bad things,” said Frank Schwartz, M.D., assistant professor of endocrinology at OU-COM and director of the Appalachian Rural Health Institute (ARHI) Diabetes Center.

“What is compelling is the length of episodes of depression,” said de Groot, the principal investigator. A follow-up study of the patients involved showed that 88 percent of those who had initially identified themselves as suffering from depression also did so 18 months later. Depression severity was associated with younger age, unemployment and a greater number of prescribed medications. These findings are consistent with those observed in urban samples.

“Part of the significance of the paper is that it helps put rural Appalachia on the map in terms of depression and diabetes,” de Groot said.

According to Schwartz, in research conducted by the ARHI Diabetes Center, Appalachia has a diabetes prevalence rate of 11.3 percent — well above the 7.6 percent national rate.