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Antidepressants Link to Diabetes

Taking antidepressant medications could increase your risk for developing diabetes – but these results are still under study.  

Also, see story on how self-monitoring your blood sugar can actually cause depression.

In an article in Endocrine Today, Richard R. Rubin, PhD, professor of medicine and pediatrics at the JohnsHopkinsUniversity said:

“If antidepressants prove to be an independent diabetes risk factor, clinicians will need to consider this when prescribing depression treatment,” Rubin and colleagues assessed the association between antidepressant use and diabetes in individuals at high risk for the disease.

“The association between antidepressant use and diabetes risk remained significant when likely mediators were controlled, such as fasting glucose, weight and weight gain,” Rubin said.

Women were more likely to use antidepressants at baseline — 7.4% of women vs. 2% of men. Prior to this evaluation, only second-generation atypical antipsychotic agents have been associated with increased diabetes risk. Most participants in this study used selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.

“Antidepressant use could simply be a marker for the actual cause of increased diabetes risk,” he said. “The lingering effects of past depression or the current effects of that depression, even with its symptoms controlled by medication, could explain the association.”

Future research should focus on minimizing the potentially adverse effects of antidepressants on glycemic control, according to the researchers.