The relationship between vascular complications of diabetes mellitus and major depression

Introduction. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disor­der characterized by chronic hyperglycemia, caused by a de­­fi­­ciency or resistance to insulin. Complications can be mi­cro­­vas­cu­lar or macrovascular, and depression is much more common in patients diagnosed with DM. Objective. To analyze the relationship between chronic vascular com­pli­ca­tions of diabetes and depressive symptoms. Metho­do­lo­gy. This is a cross-sectional observational study involving 108 pa­tients diagnosed with DM, conducted between January and May 2025 at the Diamed Medical Center, Târgu-Mureș, Romania. Depressive sym­p­toms were assessed using the BDI-II ques­tion­naire, and statistical analysis was performed using the Chi-square test. Results. The study revealed sta­tis­ti­cally sig­ni­fi­cant as­so­cia­tions between depression and diabetic nephropathy (OR=5.421; p=0.02), peripheral arteriosclerosis (OR=7.891; p=0.019), myocardial infarction (OR=7.909; p=0.019), and cerebrovascular accident (OR=4.075; p=0.04). No sta­tis­ti­cal­ly significant association was observed bet­ween depression and diabetic retinopathy (OR=2.907; p=0.08). Discussion. The results support the link between vascular complications and depression. Conclusions. Ma­jor depression is frequent­ly associated with the vascular com­pli­ca­tions of DM, and the involvement of the family doc­tor is essential for early identification and therapeutic in­ter­ven­tion, thereby im­pro­ving the patient’s quality of life.