Prevalence and Risk Factors of Depression in Chinese Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: a Protocol of Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Background: The prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is growing in China. Both physical and psychological complications occur along with the development of T2DM. The patients with depression account for a significant proportion of T2DM. Depressive symptoms interfere with blood glucose management, leading to poorer treatment outcome and even relate to the occurrence of other serious complications of T2DM population. Among these T2DM patients with depression, early detection and treatment is essential and effective. Knowledge of the current prevalence of depression in T2DM patients as well as associated risk factors may be meaningful for healthcare planning. Therefore, we plan to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the Chinese prevalence of depression in T2DM and explore associated risk factors.Methods: We will search literatures recorded in MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database (VIP), and Wanfang database (Wanfang Data). The grey literatures and reference list will be manually searched. We will include population-based, cross-sectional surveys that investigated the Chinese prevalence of depression in T2DM or/and researched the possible risk factors. Two reviewers will screen studies, extract data and evaluate quality independently. We will assess inter-rater agreement between reviewers for study inclusion, data extraction, and study quality assessment using Kappa statistics. The primary outcome will be the pooled Chinese prevalence of depression in T2DM patients. The secondary outcome will contain the potential risk factors for depression in patients with T2DM. R software (version 3.6.1) and STATA software (version 12) will be used for data analysis.Discussion: This systematic review will provide comprehensive evidence of the Chinese prevalence and risk factors of depression in patients with T2DM. we expect to provide evidence basis for healthcare practitioners and policy makers to pay attention to the mental health of T2DM. Our data will highlight the need and importance of early detection and intervention for depression in patients with T2DM. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRD42020182979.