ABSTRACT

Background and Aim: Depression is one of the most ancient and prevalent mood disorders in psychiatry. Risk of depression is 10-25% in women and 5-12% in men. Since diabetes mellitus and its complications can lead to depression and vice versa, control of blood glucose levels in patients with depression and knowledge of the effect of antidepressant drugs on blood glucose levels are important.

This study was performed to determine the effect of Fluoxetine and Imipramine on the fasting blood sugar (FBS) of patient with major depressive disorders.

Material and Method: This study was a parallel randomized clinical trial based on diagnostic criteria of DSM-IV-TR. The subjects were selected randomly from the patients referring to Shahid Hashemi Senejani Hospital of Arak and private office.  The patients were assigned into two groups each group consisted of 40 subjects. Group A received fluoxetine 20 mg/day and group B received imipramine 100 mg/day. Measurement of FBS was performed before treatment, four weeks and eight weeks after treatment. Data were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics, KS (Kolmogorov-Smirnov test) and paired t-test.      

Results: There were no significant statistical differences between first and second times mean FBS values in groups A and B, but there were significant statistical differences in the third time mean FBS values between the two groups (P=0.001). Also there was not any significant difference in the first and second time mean FBS values in group A (P=0.424) too. A significant decrease in the first and third time mean FBS values was noticed (P =0.039).

There was also a significant increase in the second and third times mean FBS values compared with the first time mean FBS values in group B (P<0.05)

Conclusion: This study revealed a decrease in FBS mean values after 8 weeks of treatment with Fluoxetine and an increase in FBS after 4 and 8 weeks of treatment with Imipramine. Therefore, we recommend Fluoxetine for treatment of depression in the patients with hyperglycemia, and Imipramine for depression in the patients with hypoglycemia.

Key words: Depression, Major Depression, Fluoxetine, Imipramine, Fasting Blood Sugar (FBS). 

 

Conflict of Interest: Nill

Received: April 4, 2009              Accepted: July 28, 2009