Association between Visual Function Impairment and Depressive Symptoms in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Cross-sectional Study

Background Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is frequently accompanied by the occurrence of depression and visual impairment. At present, the association between visual function and depression in T2DM remains unclear. Objective This study aims to examine the association between visual function impairment and depressive symptoms with T2DM. Methods A total of 542 participants with T2DM were recruited from four community hospitals. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 depression scale was used to measure depressive symptoms. Concurrently, visual function was assessed using the Chinese revised version of the Visual Function Index (VF-14) scale for near vision, visual adaptation, subjective vision, and stereoscopic vision. The relationship between visual function and depressive symptoms was evaluated using logistic regression, Spearman’s correlation analysis, restricted cubic spline, and subgroup analysis. Results The findings revealed that 61 (11.25%) participants were identified as having depressive symptoms. Logistic regression analysis revealed significant associations between depression symptoms and near vision (odds ratio [OR] = 1.156; 95% confidence interval [CI; 1.052, 1.271]; p=0.003), visual adaptation (OR = 1.341; 95% CI [1.169, 1.539]; p