ESPE Abstracts

Introduction and Purpose: Patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus must be extremely concerned with what they eat and their insulin dose as part of their treatment. Therefore, the risk of eating disorders increases in this patient group. This study, it was aimed to determine the disordered eating behaviors of patients with Type 1 DM and to evaluate the results of the general demographic characteristics, diabetes care behaviors, and quality of life scale that which these behaviors may be related to.

Material – Method: Sociodemographic characteristics and diabetes management of 191 patients aged 9-18 years with type 1 DM were analyzed. Quality of Life for Children Scale (PedsQL), Quality of Life for Children with Diabetes Scale (PedsQL 3.0 Diabetes Module), and Eating Problems in Diabetes Questionnaire-Revised (DEPS-R) were applied.

Results: In this study, the median DEPS-R score of the patients was 18 (19.00), and the DEPS-R score of 44.5% was above 20. A significant correlation was found between age, duration of diabetes, frequency of blood glucose measurement, HbA1c, BMI-SDS, and DEPS-R score. There was no significant difference between girls and boys. The proportion of patients with a high DEPS-R score was higher in patients with HbA1c levels >9 and patients aged >12 years. Patients with a high DEPS-R score had significantly lower Children's Quality of Life Scale (PedsQL), and Children's Quality of Life with Diabetes (PedsQL 3.0 Diabetes Module) scores. There was no significant relationship between long-term complications of diabetes and DEPS-R score.

Conclusion: The DEPS-R scale is a diabetes-specific, easily applicable, and effective method for screening patients with type 1 DM for impaired eating behaviors. It will prevent the progression of impaired eating behaviors to clinical eating disorders in patients with type 1 DM. It would be beneficial to use it as routine screening, especially in clinics where access to a psychologist is not possible.