ESPE Abstracts

Background: Socioeconomic status (SES) is inversely associated with many chronic diseases, with disadvantaged individuals faring worse than the others. In diabetes mellitus, however, studies evaluating the relationship between SES and the glycaemic control have shown variable results.

Objective and hypotheses: To understand the effect of SES on the long term glycemic control in children with type 1 diaebtes mellitus (T1DM) at a tertiary centre in India.

Method: In this restroective study, clincial data was collected from 78 children with T1DMand their SES calculating using widely accepted modified Kuppuswamy scale (2012).

Results: The mean age at diagnosis of T1DM was 7.09 (±3.7) years. The mean HbA1c concentration on admission & subsequent follow up were (12.12±2.69%) and (9.09±2.05%) respectively. Majority (88.31%) of the children were on mixed split regimen and only nine patients (11.69%) were on basal bolus regimen. The mean HbA1c in children using mixed split regimen was 9.10 (±2.12) %, and it was 9.58 (±1.84) % for those on basal bolus (P=0.111). As per modified Kuppuswamy scale, the number of children in class 1, 2, 3 and 4 (class 1 being the upper SES) were 6 (10.1%), 19 (32.2%), 17 (28.81%) & 17 (28.81%) respectively. Mean HbA1c for SES class 1, 2, 3 & 4 were 8.15, 8.84, 9.66, 9.54 respectively (using Independent samples ‘t’ test, no significant difference in HbA1c was noted between the upper (class 1& 2) & lower (class 3 & 4) socio-economic groups (P=0.64). There was no significant corelation between SES and HbA1c on follow up by using Pearson’s test of Linear corelation (P=0.10).

Conclusion: In our study, we did not find any evidence to suggest that the glycaemic control in T1DM is influenced by SES in Indian population. Further studies are needed to understand the other factors that impact on the long term glycaemic control.