Study: Prozac Helps Diabetics

Diabetics, who face twice the risk of developing depression, have improved their blood sugar levels and fought mood disorders with Prozac treatment, doctors say.

Results of a Missouri study were presented Tuesday during the final session of the nation’s largest gathering of diabetes specialists. It drew more than 7,000 doctors and researchers to the Alamo City.

Research detailed at the American Diabetes Association’s 60th Annual Scientific Sessions indicates diabetics experience decreased depression and improved blood sugar levels after only eight weeks of treatment with the popular anti-depressant.

Results show the importance of recognizing symptoms of depression in diabetics, said Patrick Lustman, a psychologist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis who conducted the study.

“If you’ve got both (conditions) and you treat both, then both will improve,” said Lustman.

His study, published in the most recent edition of the American Diabetes Association journal, Diabetes Care, followed 60 patients, some with Type 1 diabetes and some with Type 2. Patients were separated into two groups of 30, and one group was given a daily dose of Prozac.

Members of the control group were given a placebo. After eight weeks, Lustman said, the group receiving treatment showed a depression remission rate of 48 percent, compared with the control group’s 26 percent.

He said patients receiving Prozac also demonstrated a significantly greater improvement in blood sugar, or glucose, levels. Use of an anti-depressant likely improves glycemic control because it dampens the body’s response to the hormone cortisol, which is released during times of stress, he said.

Lustman said depression often goes undiagnosed in diabetics.“We recognize that managed care has constrained the time of a primary care visit to about five minutes,” he said. “So unfortunately, it falls back to patients to mention it specifically to their doctors, because it’s a very treatable condition.”