Gender Differences and White Blood Cells on Anxiety Symptoms in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Community-Based Study

Gender differences and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)-associated
inflammatory biomarkers are correlated with high levels of anxiety.
However, no study has investigated gender differences and high level of
white blood cells (WBC) on anxiety among participants with T2DM in
Indonesia. We examined the roles of gender and WBCs on anxiety
symptoms in T2DM. Cross-sectional study was performed on 294 patients
with T2DM recruited from five community clinics with multistage cluster
sampling. Depression, anxiety and Stress-21 (DASS-21) a standardized
questionnaire was used to measure anxiety and WBCs was determined
using an XP-100 automated hematology analyzer. The adjusted coefficients
beta (coef. β) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were performed using
multiple linear regression model. Statistical analyses were calculated using
SPSS version 25.0, with a p value of <0.05 set as statistically significant.
Famales exhibited significantly higher levels of anxiety (β=0.26, 95%
CI=0.07–0.94) than male respondents. Notably, respondents with WBCs of
³7.576 had significantly higher anxiety (β=2.04, 95% CI=1.12–3.71) than
patients with WBCs of <7.576. There was high prevalence of axienty
symptoms in this Indonesian sample of respondents. Female and high level
of WBCs exist on increasing susceptibility to anxiety symptoms among
individuals with T2DM.