Screening for psychological morbidities in diabetes
Guidelines from the ADA and the International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes recommend routine screening of patients with diabetes for psychological morbidities, including depression, said Shideh Majidi, MD.
Depression is associated with higher A1c, noted Dr. Majidi, who is associate director, childhood and adolescent diabetes program at Children’s National Hospital, Washington, D.C.
She identified the following topics that need to be addressed when considering implementing a program for depression screening and suicide risk assessment in a diabetes clinic:
- Conducting screening: Which screening questionnaire will you use? Who will do it? Where? How often?
- Scoring screening questionnaires: Who will do it?
- Depression screening discussion: Who will do it? How will the person be notified of the score?
- Suicide risk assessment: Who will conduct it? What is the process to get someone to the emergency department?
- Resources/referral: Who will initiate and follow-up?
Next steps
The RESCUE advocacy group is preparing educational and support materials for health care professionals who treat patients with diabetes, as well as other materials for patients themselves.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.