Background: Recent researches exploring the relationship between
impaired glucidic tolerance, hyperglycemia or frank type II diabetes
mellitus and symptoms of anxiety and depression, mostly conducted
on in-patients or highly selected samples and on foreign populations,
have reported conflicting results. Nevertheless, these medical and
mental conditions are often comorbid in clinical practice. Chronic
and systemic inflammation could represent the trait d\'union
between these conditions. Primary care represents an interesting
setting for exploring this comorbidity, given the high prevalence of
psychiatric symptoms displayed by patients. The aims of this
research was to measure the association between hyperglycemia
and symptoms of anxiety and/or depression in out-patients, and to
fill the lack of studies on comorbidity between depression and
anxiety disorders and medical conditions in Primary Care services.
Method: The present was a cross-sectional study. We evaluated all
consecutive patients undergoing a GP consultation in a Northern
Italy practice. Exclusion criteria: age b40 or N80; use of antidepressants
or antipsychotics medication; psychosis (schizophrenia, schizoaffective,
bipolar, organic, or tall as psychotic disorder by DSM IV-TR) or major
depression; pregnancy; previous stroke or heart attack; type I diabetes
mellitus. The psychometric assessment was done by HADS (Hospital
Anxiety and Depression Scale). Blood Glucose measurements (BM) in
the last 6 months were considered in our analysis. Hyperglycemia cutoff:
blood glucose N100 mg/dl. The statistical analysis was performed
using STATA with multiple linear regressions.
Results: 209 subjects were recruited in our study (84 men and
125 women). Of those, 48 (22.9%) were affected by hyperglycemia:
22 were men and 26 women. Hyperglycemia was related to HADS-D
score in the men sample (β = .44, p = .01). No association was
found between hyperglycemia and HADS-A, either in men or in
women.
Conclusion: The presence of hyperglycemia, well-known cardiovascular
risk factor, may have a clinical value in predicting the presence
of depressive symptoms, especially in men. Further studies should
examine whether our results are generalizable to other populations
and whether they are applicable to clinical depression. Molecular
researches could focus on clarifying the pathophysiological reasons
for such association, also exploring reasons for sex differences
