According to a study published early online in Diabetes Care, elevated depressive symptoms and antidepressant use at baseline were independently associated with an increased risk of diabetes among postmenopausal women. Data from the Women’s Health Initiative trial, involving a total of 161,808 postmenopausal women were evaluated. Patients were followed for over an average of 7.6 years and hazard ratios (HRs) estimating the effects of elevated depressive symptoms and antidepressant use on newly diagnosed incident diabetes were obtained.

The researchers reported that multivariable-adjusted HRs indicated an increased risk of incident diabetes with elevated baseline depressive symptoms (HR 1.14 [95% CI 1.08–1.21]) and antidepressant use (1.20 [1.09–1.32]). Furthermore, these associations persisted in year 3 data, in which respective adjusted HRs were 1.23 (1.09–1.39) and 1.31 (1.14–1.50).

The study concluded that longstanding elevated depressive symptoms and recent antidepressant medication use increase the risk of incident diabetes.