Association of comorbid depression, anxiety, and stress disorders with Type 2 diabetes in Bahrain, a country with a very high prevalence of Type 2 diabetes

Abstract

This study examined the association of depression, anxiety, and stress with Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in Bahrain, an island-country with a very high prevalence of T2DM. This was a cross-sectional study involving administering Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS)- 21 structured depression, anxiety, and stress scale to 143 T2DM patients and 132 healthy controls. Higher proportion of T2DM patients were found in the mild-moderate and severe-extremely severe depression (p=0.002), anxiety (p<0.001), and stress (p<0.001) groups. Chronic disease and disease duration were significantly associated with the 3 disturbances, while employment status was associated with anxiety and depression. Logistic regression analysis showed that anxiety, depression, and stress were associated with T2DM after adjusting for all variables, while age was the only significant variable associated with stress. These results suggest a positive contribution of T2DM to increased depressive and/or anxiety and/or stress disorders among the patients examined, thereby recommending counseling for T2DM patients.