The baseline survey of the REACTION study included 4,804 participants. Researchers defined first-degree FHD as having one or more immediate family members with diabetes. The researchers used the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 to determine the presence of depressive symptoms with a score of five or above. The findings were published in the Journal of Diabetes.

About 7% of the individuals with first-degree FHD reported depressive symptoms, compared with 4.9% of those without FHD. After adjusting for gender, age, socioeconomic status, lifestyle, and cardiometabolic risk factors, the presence of first-degree FHD was still associated with nearly a 50% higher risk of depressive symptoms.

Genetic background mainly drives the depressive symptoms in individuals with first-degree FHD.