Regular antidepressant use is associated with a lower risk for diabetes complications among adults with depression and newly treated diabe- tes, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Researchers examined the association between antidepressant treatment and advanced diabetic complications and mortality in a retrospective cohort study of 36,276 patients with depression and newly treated diabetes using a universal health insurance database. Within a 6-month window, antidepressant treatment patterns were classified into none, poor, partial, and regular use. Researchers found that regular use of anti- depressants was associated with a 0.92-fold reduced risk for macrovascular complications and with a 0.86-fold reduced risk for all-cause mor- tality compared with poor antidepressant use; no association was seen with microvascular compli- cations. There were associations observed between regular use of selective serotonin reuptake inhib- itors and a 0.83-fold and 0.75-fold reduced risk for macrovascular complications and all-cause mortality, respectively. The risk for all-cause mor- tality was reduced 0.78-fold in association with regular use of tricyclic or tetracyclic antidepres- sants. No association was seen for regular use of benzodiazepines with diabetes outcomes. “Clini- cians should emphasize antidepressant treatment adherence among patients with depression and diabetes mellitus,” the study authors wrote.
