Mental health and chronic diabetes complications strongly linked both ways, study finds

Medical Xpress August 22, 2024
University of Michigan

Heart attack, stroke, nerve damage. These are just some of the complications for which millions of Americans with diabetes are at greater risk.

When a person has any of these chronic diabetes complications, they are more likely to have a mental health disorder, and vice versa, according to a University of Michigan-led study. That is, the relationship goes both ways: having a mental health condition also increases the risk of developing chronic complications of diabetes.

“We wanted to see if chronic diabetes complications led to mental health disorders or if mental health disorders led to those diabetes complications—but we found that both relationships are true,” said Brian Callaghan, M.D., M.S., senior author and the Eva L. Feldman, M.D., Ph.D., Professor...