State targets link between diabetes and depression

Read the news release below

The Virginia Department of Health has launched a pilot project in areas of Southwest Virginia and the Eastern Shore to alert residents about the debilitating link between diabetes and depression.

Diabetes can cause depression and if you are depressed you may not take care of your diabetes as well as you should. New research shows that diabetes doubles the risk of depression and that being depressed puts people at high risk for developing diabetes. This double threat is especially prominent among women age 45 and older and minorities.

“The good news is that there are effective treatments for both diabetes and depression,” said State Health Commissioner Karen Remley, M.D., MBA, FAAP.  “It is essential that people with these diseases be treated for both.”

In Virginia, the rate of diabetes among adults is 6.9 percent, meaning that about 400,000 Virginia adults have been diagnosed. Another 198,000 have the disease but don’t know it. The National Institutes of Mental Health estimates that almost 10 percent of American adults, or approximately 575,000 Virginia adults, experience some form of depression every year. 

The goal of the VDH pilot project, which began in June, is to increase awareness of the link between diabetes and depression and to increase the number of women who are screened and treated for both diseases.

Health workers have hand-delivered information kits, consumer posters and client information cards to approximately 200 medical and mental health professionals in three areas of the state with exceedingly high numbers of adults with diabetes. Radio stations in the areas have been offered a public service announcement on the issue. State health officials have developed a Web site (http://www.YouCanVA.com) to link professionals and residents to more information about diabetes and depression.

The campaign focuses on the following areas of the state, which have some of the highest diabetes prevalence rates for adults.

• Lenowisco Health District (Norton and the counties of Lee, Scott and Wise) Prevalence Rate – 14.2 percent
• Mount Rogers Health District (Bristol, Galax and the counties of Bland, Carroll, Grayson, Smyth, Washington and Wythe) Prevalence Rate – 12.3 percent
• Eastern Shore Health District (Accomack and Northampton counties) Prevalence Rate – 15.4 percent

“Everyone has been very receptive to the campaign,” said Nancy Pribble, coordinator of VDH’s Diabetes Prevention and Control Project. “That’s encouraging because anyone who has diabetes and depression should be treated for both diseases.”