Diabetes appears to be associated with the risk of depression and vice versa, according to a report in the Nov. 22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. "Although it has been hypothesized that the diabetes-depression relation is bidirectional, few studies have addressed this hypothesis in a prospective setting," the authors write. An Pan, of the Harvard School of Public Health, assessed the relationship between the two diseases among 65,381 women who were between the ages of 50 to 75 in 1996. During the 10-year follow-up, 2,844 women were diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and 7,415 developed depression. Women with depression were about 17 percent more likely to develop diabetes. Those who were taking antidepressants had a 25 percent higher risk of developing diabetes than those who did not have depression. After controlling for other risk factors for mood disorders, women with diabetes were 29 percent more likely to develop depression. Women who took insulin for diabetes had a further increased risk--53 percent higher than women without diabetes. Report