[1] Lépine J-P, Briley M. The increasing burden of depression. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat 2011; 7: 3–7.
[2] Wittchen H-U, Jacobi F. Size and burden of mental disorders in Europe—a critical review and appraisal of 27 studies. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 2005; 15: 357–376.
[3] Freeman A, Tyrovolas S, Koyanagi A, et al. The role of socio-economic status in depression: results from the COURAGE (aging survey in Europe). BMC Public Health 2016; 16: 1098.
[4] Ford DE, Mead LA, Chang PP, et al. Depression is a risk factor for coronary artery disease in men: the precursors study. Arch Intern Med 1998; 158: 1422–6.
[5] Ciechanowski PS, Katon WJ, Russo JE. Depression and diabetes: impact of depressive symptoms on adherence, function, and costs. Arch Intern Med 2000; 160: 3278–85.
[6] Ohira T, Iso H, Satoh S, et al. Prospective study of depressive symptoms and risk of stroke among japanese. Stroke 2001; 32: 903–8.
[7] Salinero-Fort MA, Gómez-Campelo P, San Andrés-Rebollo FJ, et al. Prevalence of depression in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in Spain (the DIADEMA Study) : results from the MADIABETES cohort. BMJ Open 2018; 8: e020768.
[8] Anderson RJ, Freedland KE, Clouse RE, et al. The prevalence of comorbid depression in adults with diabetes: a meta-analysis. Diabetes Care 2001; 24: 1069–78.
[9] Fisher L, Skaff MM, Mullan JT, et al. Clinical Depression Versus Distress Among Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: Not just a question of semantics. Diabetes Care 2007; 30: 542–548.
[10] Mantyselka P, Korniloff K, Saaristo T, et al. Association of Depressive Symptoms With Impaired Glucose Regulation, Screen-Detected, and Previously Known Type 2 Diabetes: Findings from the Finnish D2D Survey. Diabetes Care 2011; 34: 71–76.
[11] Nouwen A, Nefs G, Caramlau I, et al. Prevalence of depression in individuals with impaired glucose metabolism or undiagnosed diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the European Depression in Diabetes (EDID) Research Consortium. Diabetes Care 2011; 34: 752–62.
[12] Ortega-Azorín C, Sorlí J V, Asensio EM, et al. Associations of the FTO rs9939609 and the MC4R rs17782313 polymorphisms with type 2 diabetes are modulated by diet, being higher when adherence to the Mediterranean diet pattern is low. Cardiovasc Diabetol 2012; 11: 137.
[13] Greco M, Chiefari E, Montalcini T, et al. Early Effects of a Hypocaloric, Mediterranean Diet on Laboratory Parameters in Obese Individuals. Mediators Inflamm 2014; 2014: 1–8.
[14] Argyropoulos K, Machini E. Adherence to Mediterranean diet and risk of depression later in life. A cross sectional study in East Attica, Greece. Glob Psychiatry; 2. Epub ahead of print 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/gp-2019-0012.
[15] Skarupski KA, Tangney CC, Li H, et al. Mediterranean diet and depressive symptoms among older adults over time. J Nutr Health Aging 2013; 17: 441–5.
[16] Sánchez-Villegas A, Ruíz-Canela M, Gea A, et al. The Association Between the Mediterranean Lifestyle and Depression. Clin Psychol Sci 2016; 4: 1085–1093.
[17] Sánchez-Villegas A, Delgado-Rodríguez M, Alonso A, et al. Association of the Mediterranean Dietary Pattern With the Incidence of Depression. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2009; 66: 1090.
[18] Vidal-Peracho C, Tricás-Moreno JM, Lucha-López AC, et al. Adherence to Mediterranean Diet Pattern among Spanish Adults Attending a Medical Centre: Nondiabetic Subjects and Type 1 and 2 Diabetic Patients. J Diabetes Res 2017; 2017: 1–11.
[19] Rojo-Martínez G, Valdés S, Soriguer F, et al. Incidence of diabetes mellitus in Spain as results of the nation-wide cohort [email protected] study. Sci Rep 2020; 10: 2765.
[20] Cuschieri S. The diabetes epidemic in Malta. South East Eur J Public Heal. Epub ahead of print 19 February 2020. DOI: 10.4119/seejph-3322.
[21] Moradi-Lakeh M, Forouzanfar MH, El Bcheraoui C, et al. High Fasting Plasma Glucose, Diabetes, and Its Risk Factors in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, 1990-2013: Findings From the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. Diabetes Care 2017; 40: 22–29.
[22] Marre M. The role of scientific societies in the sharing of expertise The Mediterranean Group for the Study of Diabetes (MGSD) and the study on gestational diabetes in the Mediterranean region. Medicographia; 33, https://www.medicographia.com/2011/07/focus/ (2011, accessed 31 July 2020).
[23] Piscopo S. Socio-ecological factors influencing food choices and behaviours of Maltese primary school children. The University of Birmingham, http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/861/1/Piscopo04PhD.pdf (2004, accessed 14 January 2019).
[24] Cuschieri S, Vassallo J, Calleja N, et al. The diabesity health economic crisis-the size of the crisis in a European island state following a cross-sectional study. Arch Public Heal 2016; 74: 52.
[25] Cuschieri S, Mamo J. Malta: Mediterranean diabetes hub – A journey through the years. Malta Med J; 26.
[26] Cuschieri S, Vassallo J, Calleja N, et al. Diabetes, pre-diabetes and their risk factors in Malta: A study profile of national cross-sectional prevalence study. Glob Heal Epidemiol Genomics; 1. Epub ahead of print 2016. DOI: 10.1017/gheg.2016.18.
[27] Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JB. The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure. J Gen Intern Med 2001; 16: 606–13.
[28] Katon W, von Korff M, Ciechanowski P, et al. Behavioral and clinical factors associated with depression among individuals with diabetes. Diabetes Care 2004; 27: 914–20.
[29] Mitchell AJ, Yadegarfar M, Gill J, et al. Case finding and screening clinical utility of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9 and PHQ-2) for depression in primary care: a diagnostic meta-analysis of 40 studies. Br J Psychiatry Open 2016; 2: 127–138.
[30] American Diabetes Association. Classification and Diagnosis of Diabetes. Diabetes Care 2016; 39 Suppl 1: S13-22.
[31] Cuschieri S, Grech S. Assessing impaired fasting blood glucose criteria for high-risk dysglycaemic populations: an experience from a European population state. J Diabetes Metab Disord 2020; 1–7.
[32] World Health Organization. Global action plan for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases 2013-2020. World Heal Organ 2013; 102.
[33] Mooy JM, Grootenhuis PA, de Vries H, et al. Intra-individual variation of glucose, specific insulin and proinsulin concentrations measured by two oral glucose tolerance tests in a general Caucasian population: the Hoorn Study. Diabetologia 1996; 39: 298–305.
[34] Christensen JO, Sandb�k A, Lauritzen T, et al. Population-based stepwise screening for unrecognised Type�2 diabetes is ineffective in general practice despite reliable algorithms. Diabetologia 2004; 47: 1566–1573.
[35] National Statistics Office (NSO). Regional statistics Malta 2020 edition, https://nso.gov.mt/en/publicatons/Publications_by_Unit/Documents/02_Regional_Statistics_(Gozo_Office)/2020/Regional_Statistics_Malta-2020 Edition.pdf (2020, accessed 13 June 2020).
[36] Patten SB. Recall bias and major depression lifetime prevalence. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 2003; 38: 290–6.
[37] World Health Organization. The world health report 2001: Mental Health: now understanding, new hope. Geneva, 2001.
[38] International Diabetes Federation. IDF Diabetes Atlas 9th Edn. Brussels, Belgium, http://www.diabetesatlas.org (2019).
[39] Torales J, O’Higgins M, Castaldelli-Maia JM, et al. The outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus and its impact on global mental health. Int J Soc Psychiatry 2020; 66: 317–320.
[40] Cuschieri S, Grech S. COVID-19 and diabetes: The why, the what and the how. J Diabetes Complications 2020; 107637.
[41] Lim GY, Tam WW, Lu Y, et al. Prevalence of Depression in the Community from 30 Countries between 1994 and 2014. Sci Rep 2018; 8: 2861.
[42] Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). Malta profile. Seattle, WA: IHME, University of Washington, http://www.healthdata.org/malta (2018, accessed 15 February 2020).
[43] Mommersteeg PMC, Herr R, Pouwer F, et al. The association between diabetes and an episode of depressive symptoms in the 2002 World Health Survey: an analysis of 231 797 individuals from 47 countries. Diabet Med 2013; 30: e208–e214.
[44] Egede LE, Ellis C. Diabetes and depression: Global perspectives. Diabetes Res Clin Pract 2010; 87: 302–312.
[45] Leon BM, Maddox TM. Diabetes and cardiovascular disease: Epidemiology, biological mechanisms, treatment recommendations and future research. World J Diabetes 2015; 6: 1246–58.
[46] Eldor R, Raz I. American Diabetes Association indications for statins in diabetes: is there evidence? Diabetes Care 2009; 32 Suppl 2: S384-91.
[47] Engum A. The role of depression and anxiety in onset of diabetes in a large population-based study. J Psychosom Res 2007; 62: 31–38.
[48] Ismail K, Moulton CD, Winkley K, et al. The association of depressive symptoms and diabetes distress with glycaemic control and diabetes complications over 2 years in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes: a prospective cohort study. Diabetologia 2017; 60: 2092–2102.
[49] Lustman PJ, Anderson RJ, Freedland KE, et al. Depression and poor glycemic control: a meta-analytic review of the literature. Diabetes Care 2000; 23: 934–42.
[50] Lin EHB, Katon W, Von Korff M, et al. Relationship of depression and diabetes self-care, medication adherence, and preventive care. Diabetes Care 2004; 27: 2154–60.
[51] Gonzalez JS, Peyrot M, McCarl LA, et al. Depression and Diabetes Treatment Nonadherence: A Meta-Analysis. Diabetes Care 2008; 31: 2398–2403.
[52] Blackburn P, Wilkins-Ho M, Wiese B. Depression in older adults: Diagnosis and management | British Columbia Medical Journal. BC Med J 2017; 59: 171–177.
[53] Keles B, McCrae N, Grealish A. A systematic review: the influence of social media on depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adolescents. Int J Adolesc Youth 2020; 25: 79–93.
[54] Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on the Future Health Care Workforce for Older. Health Status and Health Care Service Utilization. National Academies Press (US), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK215400/ (2008, accessed 9 August 2020).
[55] Office of the Deputy Prim Minster and Minister For Health. Building Resilience Transforming Services - A Mental Health Strategy For Malta 2020-2030, https://deputyprimeminister.gov.mt/en/Documents/National-Health-Strategies/Mental_Health_Strategy_EN.pdf (2018, accessed 3 August 2020).