ESPE Abstracts

Background: Diabetes as a disease and its treatment can have a profound effect on the quality of life (QoL) in terms of social and psychological well-being as well as physical ill health. Current goals of diabetes management focus on optimising metabolic control, along with preserving a good QoL.

Aims and objectives: To assess QoL in adolescents with type 1 diabetes (T1D) at the Diabetes Endocrine and Metabolism Pediatric Unit at Cairo University.

Methods: One hundred and fifty adolescents (10–18 years old) with T1D duration more than 1 year were studied regarding socio-demographic data, duration of DM, insulin therapy, and monitoring of glycaemic control in terms of frequency of self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) and mean HbA1c. They were asked to complete the “QoL for youth” questionnaire (provided by Novo Nordisk), formed of 22 questions evaluating six domains (symptoms related to diabetes, treatment, activities, parent issues, worries about diabetes and health perception). Score of each domain was calculated.

Results: Study included 82 males and 68 females with mean duration of diabetes of 3.6±2.7 years. Score was better in males, urbans, with higher educational level and with family history of diabetes. Scores were significantly better with lower mean HbA1c in domain 1 (DM related symptoms) and domain 6 (health status), P=0.001 and < 0.001 respectively; and with more frequent SMBG in Domain 1 (DM related symptoms), domain 2 (Impact of treatment), and domain 4 (Parent issues), P=0.03, 0.01 and 0.02, respectively.

Conclusion: QoL was more favorable in males, urbans, higher educational level, SMBG more than 3 times daily and HbA1c below 7.5%.