Background : Depression is quite a common finding in patients suffering from chronic illness specially diabetics. The present study was carried out on diabetics referring to Akhavan hospital in Kashan to determine the prevalence of depression.

Materials and methods : 300 randomly selected diabetics entered this descriptive study. Initial data including sex, age, level of education, marital status, depression in family, type of diabetes, late complications of diabetes, blood sugar to be under control or not, level of triglyceride and cholesterol, blood pressure, and duration of diabetes were all recorded. Beck test was used to determine the depression and the score of 16 was set as the cut off point. The prevalence and severity of depression was determined and its related factors were analysed.

Results : The study population included 78 males and 222 females. Depression was observed in 53.3% of males and 57.7% of females (p<0.05). Depression was more common among individual aged more than 40 years (p<0.0001). Meanwhile, the prevalence of depression was significantly higher among the following subjects: illiterates, with insulin-dependant diabetes, with positive family history of depression, with late complications of diabetes, insulin that was not under control, hypertriglycemics, and hypertensive subjects (p<0.0001). During the interview it was revealed that 32% of male diabetics and 47.3% of female diabetics had major depression.

Conclusion : Depression, especially major depression is a common problem of diabetics. Psychological consultation is strongly suggested for at least diabetics with longer period of disease