The WHO-5 well-being questionnaire in type 1 diabetes: screening for depression in pediatric and young adult subjects

Objectives To evaluate the WHO-5 tool in pediatric and young adult subjects with type 1 diabetes, and to analyse associations with demographic/psychological characteristics. Methods We included 944 patients with type 1 diabetes 9–25 years of age, documented in the Diabetes Patient Follow-up Registry between 2018 and 2021. We used ROC curve analysis to determine optimal cut-off values for the WHO-5 scores to predict psychiatric comorbidity (ICD-10-diagnoses) and analysed associations with obesity, HbA 1c , therapy regimen, and lifestyle via logistic regression. All models were adjusted for age, sex, and diabetes duration. Results In the total cohort (54.8% male), the median score was 17 [Q1-Q3: 13–20]. Adjusted for age, sex, and diabetes duration, the WHO-5 scores<13 were associated with psychiatric comorbidity, especially depression and ADHD, poor metabolic control, obesity, smoking, and less physical activity. There were no significant associations with therapy regimen, hypertension, dyslipidemia, or social deprivation. In subjects with any diagnosed psychiatric disorder (prevalence 12.2%), the odds ratio for conspicuous scores was 3.28 [2.16–4.97] compared to patients without mental disorders. Using ROC analysis, the optimal cut-off to anticipate any psychiatric comorbidity in our cohort was 15, and 14 for depression. Conclusions The WHO-5 questionnaire is a useful tool to predict depression in adolescents with type 1 diabetes. ROC analysis suggests a slightly higher cut-off for conspicuous questionnaire results compared to previous reports. Due to the high rate of deviant results, adolescents and young adults with type-1 diabetes should be screened regularly for signs of psychiatric comorbidity.