The Long-term Correlation between HbA1c Levels and Memory Impairments and Depressive State in Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Aim: Diabetes mellitus can lead to cognitive and psychological disorders, which can negatively affect patients' glycemic control. Monitoring a patient's HbA1c level is important to evaluate the success of diabetic treatment. We aimed to evaluate whether the mental and depressive states of the patients were associated with HbA1c levels of diabetes mellitus in the long term. Methods: Data including demographic features were collected from the 138 patients with diabetes. Mini-mental state examination test and Beck Depression Inventory were applied. The last HbA1c and the mean HbA1c values were derived; and used to evaluate whether the demographic features, Mini-mental State Examination Test, and Beck Depression Inventory score were associated with the mid-term and the long-term glycemic stability or not, respectively. Results: There was not any significant correlation between the Mini-mental State Examination Test scores and the last or the mean HbA1c levels. Beck Depression Inventory scores were positively correlated with the last and the mean-HbA1c levels (p=0.001 and p<0.001, respectively). Female patients with glycemic variability had higher depression scores (p=0.001). Moreover, there was a statistically insignificant positive correlation between both mean and latest HbA1c levels and depression scores (p<0.05). Conclusion: Our results revealed that patients with glycemic variability, both in the mid and long-term, have more severe depressive symptoms than others, in particular females. Considering these results, we suggested that blood sugar regulation should be ensured first in diabetes mellitus patients presenting with memory impairments and that female patients with low education levels should be questioned more carefully in terms of depression. Keywords: diabetes mellitus, Hb A1c, cognitive impairments, depressive symptoms, gender