Prevalence and Impact of Psychological Disorders on Pharmacotherapy of Diabetic Patients in Low Resource Settings: A Prospective Assessment in Primary Healthcare Settings

BACKGROUND: Prevalence of psychological disorders among individuals with diabetes is significantly higher as compared to the general population.

AIM: This study aimed to assess the prevalence and impact of psychological disorders on pharmacotherapy of diabetes patients.

METHODOLOGY: This cross-sectional study was conducted at two primary care hospitals in Pakistan from April to June 2023. The nine-item Patient Health Care Questionnaire (PHQ-9) scale was used to assess depression in the study's population, and its effects on pharmacotherapy of diabetes. Chi-square test was used to evaluate relationship between ordinal variables/categorical variables and depression whereas; Student's t-test was used to assess the relationship between numerical variables with depression.

RESULTS: A total of 320 patients were assessed, comprising 120 (37.5%) males and 200 (62.5%) females, with a mean age of 52.5 (SD±11.8) years. The average duration of diabetes is 7.0 (SD±5.4). The average PHQ-9 score was 8.3 (SD±5.5). Depression was found to be prevalent in 43.7% of the study population. Gender (female) (p-value 0.002), advanced age (p-value 0.002), lower income (p-value 0.001), education levels (p-value 0.001), longer duration of diabetes (p-value 0.001), poor diabetes control according to BSR value (p-value 0.001), usage of injectable insulin (p-value 0.005), and concomitant diseases (p-value 0.001) were found to be independently linked with depression. Significant association was observed between depression and treatment adherence (p-value 0.0025), number of missed doses (p-value 0.045), and difficulty in diabetes management (p-value 0.0015).

CONCLUSION: Our study highlights significant prevalence of depression in study population and the prevalent depression negatively impacts on treatment adherence. It also revealed that depression complicates diabetes management resulting in poor medication adherence, poor diabetes control and diabetes related complications, making diabetes control more challenging and difficult.