Ethnic Minorities with Diabetes Differ in Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms and Diabetes-Distress

Abstract EN

Objective.

To determine the association between ethnicity, diabetes-distress, and depressive and anxiety symptoms in adult outpatients with diabetes.

Research Design and Methods.

Diabetes-distress (Problem Areas in Diabetes Scale, PAID5), depressive and anxiety symptoms (Extended Kessler-10, EK10), and quality of life (Short-Form 12, SF12) were assessed in an ethnic diverse diabetes outpatient population of a teaching hospital in Amsterdam.

Descent of one’s parents and self-classified ethnicity were obtained to define ethnicity.

HbA1c, clinical data, and socioeconomic status were derived from the medical charts.

Based on established cut-offs for PAID5- and EK10-scores, emotional distress was dichotomized for the purpose of logistic regression analyses.

Results.

Of 1007 consecutive patients approached, 575 participated.

Forty-nine percent were of non-Dutch ethnicity and 24.7% had type 1 diabetes.

Diabetes-distress was reported by 12.5% of the native Dutch patients and by 22.0%, 34.5%, and 42.6% of the Surinamese, Turkish, and Moroccan patients, respectively.

Prevalence of depressive symptoms was 9.4% in native Dutch patients and 20.4%, 34.5%, and 27.3% in the other groups mentioned.

Diabetes-distress and Moroccan origin were significantly associated (OR = 3.60, p<.01) as well as depressive symptoms and Turkish origin (OR = 4.23, p=.04).

Conclusions.

Different ethnic minorities with diabetes vary in their vulnerability for emotional distress, warranting clinical attention.

Future research should elucidate explanatory factors and opportunities for tailored interventions.