Context: A joint Indo-U.S. research study found that integrating depression and diabetes treatment (‘INDEPENDENT’) improved parameters for both conditions.

Details of the study:

• The study found that a low-cost one-year collaborative care model delivered in diabetes clinics can lower depressive symptoms and improve cardio metabolic health at the same time.
• The study was a collaboration between Emory University, Atlanta and the University of Washington, Seattle; the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi; Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF), Chennai; Diacon Hospital, Bengaluru, and Endocrine and Diabetes Centre, Visakhapatnam, and was funded by the National Institutes for Health, U.S.
• People with diabetes have a higher risk of experiencing depression, which worsens their likelihood of managing their diabetes well, resulting in higher risk of heart attacks and other diabetes complications and mortality. Too often, mental health is overlooked due to fragmented care, stigma of psychiatric illnesses, and shortages of mental health professions.
• The key take away from the study was that we should not work in silos. Depression and diabetes have a bi-directional relationship, impacting on each other. Depression causes counter regulatory hormones to be secreted — adrenaline and noradrenalin — which nullify the effect of insulin on the body.

Reference-https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/collaborative-approach-to-treat-depression-and-diabetes-needed-study/article32388002.ece

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