ESPE Abstracts (2018) 89 P-P1-044

ESPE2018 Poster Presentations Diabetes & Insulin P1 (53 abstracts)

Parental Anxiety about Hypoglycemia of Children and Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) and the Associated Factors

Evangelia Ntinou a , Anastasia Barbouni b , Athanasia Liveri c & Kyriaki Karavanaki a


aDiabetic Clinic, 2nd Department of Pediatrics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, ‘P.&A. Kyriakou’ Children’s Hospital, Athens, Greece; bNational School of Public Health, Athens, Greece; cDepartment of Statistical and Aspective Science, Athens, Greece


Introduction: The anxiety for hypoglycemia is a major stress factor for parents of children with T1DM and has been associated with poor diabetic control, reduced insulin doses and school-age children.

Purpose: To determine the frequency and severity of parental anxiety for hypoglycemia and the associated factors.

Patients and methods: The study included parents [21 (23.9%) fathers and 67 (76.1%) mothers] of 88 T1DM patients, with a mean±S.D. age of 12.63±3.58 years and disease duration of 4.56±3.63 years. Questionnaires HFS-P Worry (anxiety scale) and HFS-P Behavior scale were used and analyzed by single-factor analysis.

Results: From the parents of T1DM children, 21.6% frequently experienced and 26.1% almost always experienced anxiety for hypoglycemia. Parental anxiety for hypoglycemia showed a linear correlation with the presence of specific behaviors to avoid it (P=0.421, P<0.001). Anxiety for hypoglycemia mainly occurred in parents aged between 26-35 years (P<0.036) and mothers with the lowest educational level (P <0.039). The use of insulin pump (P<0.034), younger patients’ age (P<0.001) and early diabetes diagnosis (P=0.007) was associated with a higher rate of specific behaviors to treat hypoglycemia. Parental anxiety for hypoglycemia was marginally non-significantly associated with poor glycemic control (HbA1c>8%) (P=0.074).

Conclusions: Parents of T1DM children have anxiety for hypoglycemia in a significant percentage (26.1%). Anxiety for hypoglycemia is mainly experienced by the parents of younger children, with a young age at diagnosis, with low maternal education and the use of insulin pump. Parental anxiety of hypoglycemia does not appear to significantly affect the quality of glycemic control.

Article tools

My recent searches

No recent searches.