Response: Prevalence of Depression and Glucose Abnormality in an Urbanizing Rural Population of Bangladesh (Diabetes Metab J 2015;39:218-29)

Article information

Diabetes Metab J. 2015;39(6):530-530

Publication date (electronic) : 2015 December 11

doi : https://doi.org/10.4093/dmj.2015.39.6.530

Khurshid Natasha ¹^,², Akhtar Hussain ¹, A. K. Azad Khan ², Bishwajit Bhowmik ¹^,²

¹Institute of Health and Society, Section for International Health, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.

²Bangladesh University of Health Sciences, Diabetic Association of Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Corresponding author: Khurshid Natasha. Division of Public Health, Department of Health Promotion and Health Education, Bangladesh University of Health Sciences, 125/1 Darussalam Mirpur, Dhaka 1216, Bangladesh. drnatasha1976@gmail.com

We appreciate your Interest and comments on our article entitled "Prevalence of Depression and Glucose Abnormality in an Urbanizing Rural Population of Bangladesh" which was published in Diabetes Metab J [1].

First, it is a very different finding to get a high prevalence of depression among our rural people where the national data says the depression level is 4.6% only [2]. But you know truth is not the fact. So, we (Bangladesh Diabetic Association) kept continuous research at that particular place. And for your kind information my another paper "Temporal changes in the prevalence of depression in subjects with and without diabetes in a rural area of Bangladesh" [3] is the result of this. We showed that the prevalence of depression is declining there day by day, and the possible causes are discussed in the papers also.

Second, thank you for the suggestion regarding Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). Of course MADRS is an epidemiological tool and we used with much caution. A highly expert psychologist (Dr. Shahin Asghar) [4] from Norway Trained the researchers and with several pilot and trial study we went for the final research.

Lastly, in general the prevalence of depression is more in female than male, but surprisingly in case of glucose abnormality there was no significant difference. Thank you for noticing the interesting fact. We shall keep these points in mind to work in future also to analyse the glycosylated hemoglobin.

We would like to thank Tomoyuki Kawada for your interest and thoughtful comments.

Notes

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

References

1. Natasha K, Hussain A, Azad Khan AK, Bhowmik B. Prevalence of depression and glucose abnormality in an urbanizing rural population of Bangladesh. Diabetes Metab J 2015;39:218–229. 26124992.

2. Firoz AH, Karim ME, Alam MF. Community based multi-centric service oriented research on mental illness with focus on awareness, prevalence, care, acceptance and follow-up in Bangladesh. Manual on Mental Health for primary health care physicians 2nd edth ed. The National Institute of Mental Health & World Health Organization; 2007.

3. Natasha K, Bhowmik B, Hussain A, Azad Khan AK. Temporal changes in the prevalence of depression in subjects with and without diabetes in a rural area of Bangladesh. J Diabetol 2014;1:2.

4. Asghar S, Hussain A, Ali SM, Khan AK, Magnusson A. Prevalence of depression and diabetes: a population-based study from rural Bangladesh. Diabet Med 2007;24:872–877. 17403122.

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