SUNBURY — If you are being treated for type 2 diabetes, you might also be at a greater risk of being depressed. And if you’ve been diagnosed as being clinically depressed, your doctor should be on the lookout for diabetes, as part of a complete physical exam.

That’s the finding of a new study suggesting the two may go hand in hand.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in Maryland, found that those who were being treated for type 2 diabetes had a 52 percent higher risk of developing symptoms of depression.

The direction of the relationship between diabetes and depression is still unclear.

Does depression cause diabetes? Does the mere fact of being diagnosed as a diabetic cause depression in patients? Researchers couldn’t say.

Type-2 diabetes is defined as adult, non-insulin dependent diabetes. It is the most common form of the disease and can usually be controlled by diet, exercise and oral drugs.

Dr. Stephen Paolucci, chairman, Division of Psychiatry, Geisinger Medical Center, in Danville, said, one of the most important things that happens when a patient is diagnosed with a mental disorder is to have a comprehensive physical exam.

“Doctors should have their sensitivity increased toward picking up on the potential for more of their diabetes patients and more of their depression patients having susceptibility to the other disorder,” he said.

“It is also possible,” Paolucci observed, “that the psychological stress associated with diabetes management in itself could lead to elevated depressive symptoms.

“We often see depression when someone first has to face up to having a debilitating illness. Patients who have heart conditions, for example, can initially be depressed. It’s not an uncommon occurrence,” he said.

Depressed individuals are also less likely to comply with dietary and weight loss recommendations and more likely to be physically inactive, contributing to obesity, a strong risk factor in diabetes.

The Johns Hopkins diabetes study, published in the June 18 edition of “The Journal of the American Medical Association,” also cautioned that while their study showed a link between depression and diabetes, other studies have shown no connection between the two conditions.