US research finds adults with type 1 diabetes report moderate to severe depression and anxiety more often than people with type 2 diabetes or no diabetes, highlighting gaps in routine mental health screening.
Adults with type 1 diabetes are more likely to report symptoms of depression and generalised anxiety than people with type 2 diabetes or no diabetes, according to research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine and summarised by HealthDay. The findings add fresh evidence to a long-running concern in diabetes care: mental health problems are common, can complicate daily self-management, and may be overlooked in routine treatment.
The analysis, led by Tianyu Cao of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, drew on the US National Health Interview Survey and included 58,106 adults, among them 326 with type 1 diabetes and 5,802 with type 2 diabetes. The researchers found that moderate or severe depressive symptoms affected 17.1% of adults with type 1 diabetes, compared with 12.4% of those with type 2 diabetes and 6.6% of people without diabetes. For moderate or severe generalised anxiety disorder symptoms, the figures were 16.2% in type 1 diabetes, 8.7% in type 2 diabetes and 6.1% in people without diabetes.
The burden was heaviest among women, younger adults and people with less than a high school education. That pattern is consistent with earlier research. A 2006 UK study, published in PubMed-indexed form, found higher anxiety scores in women with type 1 diabetes and more moderate-to-severe depressive symptoms among men, while a separate review that same year reported that clinical depression was more common in adults with type 1 diabetes than in control groups. More recent US-based research has also pointed in the same direction, including a national cross-sectional study from 2021 to 2023 that found 19.1% of adults with type 1 diabetes had both depression and anxiety.
The new findings matter because mental health symptoms can interfere with diabetes self-care, including glucose monitoring, medication use and day-to-day decision-making. A 2021 study found that depressive symptoms were linked to worse glycaemic outcomes indirectly through poorer self-care, underlining the practical impact of untreated psychological distress. In their research letter, the Johns Hopkins team said better mental health screening, particularly for higher-risk groups, is important for improving diabetes management and quality of life.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
