Abstract
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and depression are highly prevalent conditions and have significant impact on health outcomes worldwide. Both conditions maintain a bidirectional relationship causing T2D and depression to occur together twice as frequently as would be predicted by chance alone. Current studies on this comorbidity however employ an individualistic perspective and ignore its social drivers– necessitating sociological research on the topic. A merger between Fundamental Cause Theory and Syndemic theory will be applied to(1) assess the clustering of T2D and depression and the role of socio-economic (SE) vulnerability within this clustering; (2) look how the adverse interactions between T2D, depression and SE vulnerability amplify disease burden and complications, and (3) study the contextual forces that cause and/or exacerbate this clustering. I will use HISlink data (Health Interview Survey + Health Insurance data) to assess (1) and (2) in Belgium. Next, I will address (3) by assessing the contextual variation in the syndemic across (a) Belgian communities (using Local Health Interview Survey data) and (b) European countries (using European Health Interview Survey data), and whether this variation can be explained by spatial and health system characteristics, respectively. The resulting fundamental knowledge has the potential to help policymakers in their endeavours to improve population health by offering insight into the drivers of the co-morbidity of T2D and depression.
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