ESPE Abstracts

Introduction and Aim: Adolescence is the period when the management and metabolic control of the disease are the most difficult in type 1 diabetes mellitus, and the adolescent and parents experience the most intense problems. Although there are studies showing that parental support positively affects glycemic control and treatment compliance, studies investigating the effect of parental monitoring on glycemic control are limited. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the effect of parental monitoring on the glycemic control of adolescents with T1DM.

Cases and Methods: Socio-demographic data form (single parent) and Parental Monitoring of Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes Scale were filled online by the caregivers of children and adolescents aged 12-18 years who were being followed up in the Pediatric Endocrinology outpatient clinic with the diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes mellitus. The relationship between scale scores and metabolic control was evaluated. In addition, the factors affecting parental monitoring were investigated.

Results: 37 patients with a mean age of 15±1.72 (12.25-17.92) were included. The mean age at diagnosis was 9.17±3.63 (1.58-15.58), and the mean duration of diabetes was 5.79±3.85 (0.92-15.25). The mean Hba1c value was 8.30 ±1.98% (6.0-14.0). When the hba1c values of the mothers were compared according to the working status of the mothers, the hba1c of the adolescents whose mothers were working was 9.4%, while the hba1c of the group whose mothers were not working was 7.5%. A positive correlation was found between the parental follow-up score and the hba1c value. As the parental follow-up score increased, the hba1c value also increased. No correlation was found between the follow-up score and chronological age, age at diagnosis, duration of diabetes, education of parents, or income status.

Discussion: Contrary to studies suggesting that parental monitoring increases compliance in adolescents with type 1 diabetes, we found that glycemic control worsened as the parental monitoring score increased. We think that this may be due to several different reasons. First of all, Parents of poorly controlled diabetics may have answered the questionnaire biased with a sense of guilt. On the other hand, parents of adolescents with poor glycemic control need to monitor their children more closely. In addition, although validity and reliability studies have been conducted, adolescents with good diabetes compliance may have received lower follow-up scores, since the current questionnaire questions were aimed at catching poor diabetes follow-up.