Depression and Type 2 Diabetes Over the Lifespan: A Meta-Analysis
Response to Mezuk et al.
- Arie Nouwen, PHD1,
- Cathy E. Lloyd, PHD2 and
- Frans Pouwer, PHD3
- 1School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, U.K.;
- 2Faculty of Health & Social Care, The Open University, Milton Keynes, U.K.;
- 3Center of Research on Psychology in Somatic Diseases (CoRPS), Tilburg University, Tilburg, the Netherlands.
- Corresponding author: Arie Nouwen, a.nouwen{at}bham.ac.uk
We read with interest the meta-analysis by Mezuk et al. (1) on the bidirectional relationship between diabetes and depression. In their report, the authors examined whether having depression increases risk of type 2 diabetes and the inverse relationship, namely, whether having type 2 diabetes increases risk of depression. The authors concluded that depression was associated with a 60% increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes but that there was only a modest (15%) increased risk of depression in individuals with type 2 diabetes. While we welcome this report, we would argue that there are a number of important methodological and conceptual issues that …
