Aims: A meta-analysis concluded that depression is associated with poor glycaemic control in Type 2 diabetes (DM2). In DM2 patients with deteriorating glycaemic control, the initiation of insulin therapy is often postponed. The aim of the present study was to determine whether symptoms of depression and diabetes-specific emotional distress are associated with a more negative appraisal of insulin therapy.
Methods: We collected cross-sectional data in two outpatient university clinics in Istanbul, Turkey. The study sample consisted of 154 insulin-naïve patients with DM2. A self-report questionnaire was used to obtain demographic and clinical data. Main instruments were the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, (CES-D), the Problem Areas In Diabetes scale (PAID) and the Insulin Treatment Appraisal Scale (ITAS).
Results: Analysis of variance revealed that patients with a higher depression score rated insulin therapy significantly more negative then patients with lower depression scores. Moreover, 47% of patients with a high depression score had a negative appraisal of insulin therapy on 7 or more of the 20 ITAS-items, compared to 25 to 29% of those with low-moderate depression scores. Multiple regression analyses showed that a negative appraisal of insulin therapy was significantly associated with higher depression and diabetes-distress scores and low education, but not with sex, age or duration of diabetes.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that in insulin-naïve Type 2 diabetes patients, higher levels of depression and diabetes-distress tend to be associated with more negative beliefs about insulin. Whether these negative attitudes translate into postponing initiation of insulin therapy needs to be tested in longitudinal research.