Veysel Nijat Baş, Aysun Bideci, Ediz Yeşilkaya, A. Şebnem Soysal, Orhun Çamurdan and Peyami Cinaz
Introduction: It has currently been understood that monitoring diabetic patients only with metabolic variables is insufficient, and thus, quality of life assessments have been initiated. The aim of the present study was to compare the quality of life scored between diabetic and healthy children and to investigate the factors affecting the quality of life in diabetic patients.
Material-Method: Sixty-one patients aged between 7-16 years who were followed-up with diagnosis of type 1 Diabetes Mellitus in the Department of Pediatric Endocrinology of Gazi University School of Medicine and 57 age- matched healthy volunteers were enrolled. Patient and control groups were evaluated in terms of quality of life, depressive mood, and accompanying behavioral problems. The assessment of children was performed using Conners’ parent and teacher rating scales, Children Depression Inventory, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children, and Short Form-36 for quality of life, Kid–KINDL questionnaire, Kiddo–KINDL questionnaire, and KINDL questionnaire. Clinical and laboratory characteristics of the diabetic patients were retrieved from their patient files.
Results: Short Form-36 general health, vitality, and mental health subdimension scores of type 1 diabetic children were lower than those in the controls (p<0.05). However, no significant difference was noted between the groups in terms of Kid-KINDL, Kiddo-KINDL and parent-reported KINDL scores. Moreover, there was also no significant difference between patients and controls in terms of anxiety, depressive mood, Conners’ parent and teacher rating scale scores. Gender, HbA1c level, disease duration, and insulin treatment model did not affect the quality of life of diabetic patients.
Conclusion: Quality of life assessment provides valuable information regarding the effect of diabetes mellitus on quality of life. Thus, specific management programs aiming to develop functional abilities, and well-being and general health perception of the patients can be selected, patient compliance can be improved and negative effects of disease on quality of life can be reduced.