Diabetes melitus has become an epidemic from a global perspective. Diabetes is a classical example of the biopsychosocial model of disease and like most diseases, it has a multifactorial origin. Several lines of evidence support the role of psychosocial distress in promoting the development of diabetes.

To estimate the effect of psychosocial distress on diabetes mortality rate at the aggregate level.

Trends in age-adjusted, sex-specific suicide (as an integral indicator for psychosocial distress) and diabetes mortality rate in Russia from 1956 to 2005 were analyzed employing an ARIMA analysis in order to asses bivariate relationship between the two time series.

Time series analysis indicate the presence of statistically significant association between the two time series for male (r = 0.45; SE = 0.16). The association between the two time series for female also positive, however, statistically not significant (r = 0.25; SE = 0.14).

The results of present study suggest a positive association between male suicide and diabetes mortality rate at the aggregate level and support the hypothesis that psychosocial distress is a risk factor for diabetes at the individual level. This paper presents new epidemiological evidence that supports psychosomatic concept of diabetes melitus.