Gender differences in the severity of depressive symptoms among older adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Abstract

This study aimed to compare the severity of depressive symptoms according to gender among older adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). A cross-sectional study was conducted among 150 older adults attending the Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado (ISSSTE) Family Medicine Clinic No. 1 “Dr. Arturo González Guzmán” in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) was administered, and descriptive and inferential analyses were performed by gender, considering the total score, the somatic-affective and cognitive dimensions, and the severity categories of depressive symptoms. Of the participants, 40.7% were men and 59.3% were women. The mean BDI-II score was 8.98 among women and 8.69 among men, with both groups falling within the minimal depressive symptom range. No statistically significant differences were found between women and men in the total BDI-II score (p = .778), the somatic-affective dimension (p = .477), or the cognitive dimension (p = .839).

Overall, 79.3% of participants presented minimal depressive symptomatology. Although women descriptively showed a higher proportion of mild symptoms and men a higher proportion of moderate symptoms, the distribution of severity categories did not differ significantly by gender (p = .848). In conclusion, although small descriptive variations were observed between women and men, these differences were not statistically significant, highlighting the importance of further investigating the possible influence of gender on the expression of depressive symptomatology among older adults with T2DM.