Author(s)

Abdel Hamid el Bilbeisi^1,2,3*, Mohammed Srour², Amany el Afifi⁴, Halgord Ali M. Farag^3,5, Kurosh Djafarian³

¹Department of Clinical Nutrition, Faculty of Pharmacy, Al Azhar University of Gaza, Gaza Strip, Palestine.
²Department of Nutrition, Medicine & Health Sciences College, University of Palestine, Gaza Strip, Palestine.
³Department of Clinical Nutrition, School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, International Campus (TUMS- IC), Tehran, Iran.
⁴Faculty of Pharmacy, Al Azhar University of Gaza, Gaza Strip, Palestine.
⁵Halabja Technical Institute, Sulaimani Polytechnic University, Kurdistan, Iraq.

Background: Depression is a common mental disorder. Globally, more than 340 million people of all ages suffer from depression. The aim of our study was to determine the association between major dietary patterns and depression among type 2 diabetes patients. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 480 type 2 diabetes patients attending primary healthcare centers in Gaza Strip, Palestine. The depression, anxiety, stress scales (DASS, 21-items) questionnaire was used to measure the score of depression. The participants’ demographic, socioeconomic and medical history data was collected and the 98-items semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire was used for evaluating the dietary patterns. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 20. Results: Based on depression scale, 29.0% of type 2 diabetes patients had depression, (58.3% females, and 41.7% males). The prevalence of mild, moderate, severe, and very severe depression was 11.7%, 8.5%, 6.7%, and 2.1%, respectively. Furthermore, two major dietary patterns were identified by factor analysis: The Western, and the grains-vegetables, and fruits patterns. After adjusting for the potential confounders, patients in the lowest tertile (T1) of the grains-vegetables, and fruits dietary pattern had a lower odds for depression (OR 0.763 95% CI (0.667 - 0.871), P value = 0.001); where as a higher odds for healthy (OR 1.443 95% CI (1.131 - 1.839), P value = 0.004), compared to those in the highest tertile (T3). Conclusion: The grains-vegetables, and fruits dietary pattern may be associated with a lower prevalence of depression, and has been shown to be the healthiest dietary pattern among type 2 diabetes patients.

Depression, Dietary Patterns, Factor Analysis, Prevalence, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Bilbeisi, A. , Srour, M. , Afifi, A. , Farag, H. and Djafarian, K. (2019) Dietary Patterns and Their Association with Depression among Type 2 Diabetes Patients in Gaza Strip, Palestine. Food and Nutrition Sciences, 10, 533-550. doi: 10.4236/fns.2019.105039.