A new study has revealed that people with insulin resistance may have a higher risk of developing severe depression.
Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine in California looked at ways to identify factors that put people at risk of developing depression. They examined data from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA), following 601 participants over nine years. Three factors that indicate insulin resistance were measured – the ratio of triglycerides to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, fasting plasma glucose level, and waist circumference.
The participants in the data analysis had no previous history of clinical depression or anxiety, were screened with psychiatric and physical evaluations at the start and then at a two-year follow-up. Psychiatric evaluations were then conducted four, six, and nine years after the initial evaluation. The researchers found that all three factors of insulin resistance were associated with an increased risk of depression – people who developed prediabetes during the first two years were more twice as likely to be experiencing major depression at the nine-year follow-up than those who had normal plasma glucose levels at the two-year follow-up.
To read the study in the American Journal of Psychiatry, CLICK HERE.