December 17, 2021
Danish researchers have found that people with psychiatric disorders often have to deal with another infirmity: They are more likely to suffer from type 2 diabetes than members of the general population, reports U.S. News & World Report.
The rate of type 2 diabetes in the general population has been established to be 6% to 9%.
“Increased prevalence of type 2 diabetes among individuals with a psychiatric disorder suggests that these conditions have a shared vulnerability,” the researchers said in an article published November 29 in the journal Diabetologia.
In the study—led by Nanna Lindekilde, from the Department of Psychology at the University of Southern Denmark—the investigators searched four electronic databases of scientific papers. They found 32 reviews based on 245 studies that included people with 11 categories of psychiatric disorders: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, substance use disorder, anxiety disorder, eating disorder, intellectual disability, psychosis, sleep disorder, dementia, and a mixed group with different types of disorders.
Type 2 diabetes was most common among study subjects with who were reported to have:
- A sleep disorder (40%),
- Binge eating disorder (21%),
- Substance use disorder (16%),
- Anxiety disorders (14%),
- Bipolar disorder (11%), and
- Psychosis (11%).
People with an intellectual disability were least likely to have diabetes (8%), the findings showed.
Many people with sleep disorders have other health problems, and it’s likely that these conditions contribute to the high rate of diabetes in people with sleep disorders, said lead author Lindekildek.
“Better understanding of the observed differences in disease risk and the reasons behind them are still needed,” the researchers concluded in a journal news release.
Research contact: @usnews
