Diabetes and depression: a review

Antidepressants

Some antidepressants, particularly those used in persistent depression where other treatments have failed, are likely to cause considerable weight gain and thus predispose patients to DM. However, patients with the same depressive symptoms who were not treated with antidepressants had a lower prevalence of type 2 DM. This suggests that there is a stronger correlation between depression and DM when antidepressant therapy is given, compared to when it is not. This study involved a large cohort of 151,347 participants, which makes the results reliable by reducing the influence of chance (63). Antidepressants which are linked with weight gain include those with antihistamine mechanisms, tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), and monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) (64). The antidepressant which has been proven to have the greatest effect on weight gain in Mirtazapine, which has interactions with specific serotonin receptors, as well as histaminergic receptors. The effects of these interactions include an increased appetite which causes the weight gain (65).