Background: Diabetic patients, during the course of the disease, are most likely to experience depressive symptoms
that might ultimately lead to suicidal ideation or suicide. The size of literature in diabetes depression/suicide is a good
indicator of national and international eforts to address psychological co-morbidities associated with diabetes mellitus
(DM). Therefore, the objective of this study was to give a comprehensive analysis, both quantitative and qualitative,
of scientifc literature in diabetes depression/suicide.
Methods: SciVerse Scopus was used to retrieve relevant literature up to 2016.
Results: In total, 1664 journal documents were retrieved with an average of 26.9 citations per article and an h-index
of 98. Publications started in 1949 but showed a steep and noticeable increase after 2001. Retrieved articles were
published in 641 diferent journals with Diabetes Care journal being the top productive one with a total of 130
(7.8%) articles. Researchers from 83 diferent countries participated in retrieved publications. Researchers from the
United States of America participated in publishing 685 articles. There was a strong and positive correlation between
research output and Gross Domestic Product (r=0.083; p<0.001) but not with prevalence or mortality caused by DM.
Researchers from 4870 diferent institutions/organizations participated in publishing retrieved articles. Publications
from the University of Washington, Seattle, USA had the highest h-index (38), while “VA medical centers” had the highest
number of publications (75; 4.5%). In total, 5715 authors appeared in retrieved articles giving an average of 3.4 authors
per article. Top cited articles focused on prevalence, impact of depression on glycemic control, and potential risk of
diabetic complications. The total number of publications in depression/suicide in diabetic patients was lesser than
that in cardiac (1938) or in cancer (1828) patients. However, publications in diabetes depression/suicide exceeded
those in cardiac and cancer in the last 2 years of the study period.
Conclusion: The current study showed a noticeable growth of publications indicative of the importance of this topic.
Research focusing on the psychiatric component of diabetes mellitus needs to be strengthened and encouraged. At
the practical level, screening for depression/suicide among patients attending primary healthcare clinics is needed to
optimize health and quality of life of diabetic patients.