KEY POINTS
- It is a well known fact that diabetes is a health condition that does not operate in a vacuum.
- It is not impossible to control high blood sugar with determination and discipline.
- A study now says that people with psychiatric disorders also have higher rates of type 2 diabetes.
“When people who have preexisting mental illnesses develop diabetes, their outcomes are much worse,” said Anne Doherty, an associate professor of psychiatry at University College Dublin told TIME.
The study says that compared to people with type 2 diabetes who don’t have mental illnesses, “they are more likely to develop complications and are much more likely to die younger.”
The Circle of Diabetes and Mental Illness:
TIME reports that the relationship goes both ways; people with diabetes also tend to have higher rates of psychiatric disorders and face worse outcomes than people without diabetes.
The association between diabetes and psychiatric disorders highlights the close connections between mental and physical health. A better understanding of these connections could give us a better chance of preventing or treating such conditions.
Researchers have long known the relationship between certain serious psychiatric illnesses, such as depression or schizophreniaand higher rates of type 2 diabetes. Until recently, it was unclear how far this association extended to other psychiatric disorders.
In a recent study, Nanna Lindekilde, a doctoral student at the University of Southern Denmark who led the teams, says that, in general, there is an increased risk of type 2 diabetes in people with a psychiatric disorder. “Most research has previously focused on people with depression or schizophrenia, but we have shown increased risk across a wide range of psychiatric disorders.”
The mechanisms underlying this bidirectional relationship are a mystery, but researchers are exploring intriguing hypotheses. It is being evaluated if the following habits of depressed people may be leading to diabetes.
- Of smoking
- poor nutrition
- Reduce physical activities
- Noncompliance with a medication regimen.
- Lack of adequate and healthy sleep.
The sleep factor cannot be emphasized more. Sleep is crucial for various markers of well-being in the human body and determines the management of metabolic function.
Those in treatment for psychiatric disorders find that not only do they have trouble sleeping, but certain psychiatric medications can cause weight gain and make it difficult for the patient to control blood sugar. The drugs are also the kind that induce a certain lethargy and inactivity, leading to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.
Upside down in the vicious circle:
One begets the other, it seems in the case of diabetes and mental health disorders Chronic diseases such as diabetes can contribute to poorer mental health.
Is there a common gene shared by the two conditions?
Researchers have also recently picked up tantalizing clues about common biological pathways that may underlie both diabetes and psychiatric disorders. The researchers have a hunch (logical and derived from their extensive studies) that shared genetic pathways could be a possible culprit, but existing studies are too few and too small to draw definitive conclusions.
Researchers have been particularly interested in the possible genetic overlap between schizophrenia and type 2 diabetes as a way to explain the higher rates of diabetes in people with schizophrenia. But it is not easy to attract patients, especially with this combination, to participate in specific studies.
The second brain – the gut microbiota:
Scientists are also investigating various inflammatory pathways and molecules to see if they might underlie both diabetes and psychiatric disorders. The gut-brain axis has gained prominence in wellness research. Scientists are also focusing on the role of the roughly 100 trillion microbes in our gut and their associated genomes, known collectively as the gut microbiome. There are indications that changes in the gut microbiome may affect the brain and metabolism, theoretically influencing diabetes and psychiatric disorders.
Psychiatric disorders and diabetes are independently associated with dying at a younger age. In a recent population study of more than 250,000 people in Sweden, Fazel found a similar increase in mortality among patients with psychiatric disorders who also had chronic conditions such as respiratory problems, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.
Where is the exit?
Integrating physical and mental health treatment could help reduce mortality, Doherty tells TIME. “A big part of diabetes care should be mental health care,” says Doherty. “It’s another thing to integrate good physical monitoring into mental health clinics.”
Future studies will continue to study the link between type 2 diabetes and a wide range of psychiatric conditions, with the goal of finding common approaches to managing or treating both.
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