Endocrine Abstracts

Objectives: The prevalence of diabetes mellitus type 1 (DM 1) had increased nowadays in children in Belarus. Psychological problems are one of side-effects of the disease.

Aim: To determine the presence of psychological problems in children with DM 1.

Methods: We examined 45 children (boys – 23, girls – 22) age 14.4±0.8 years, with DM 1 in University hospital (Minsk) in 2014–2015 years. All children underwent psychological examination: depression self-rating scale (DSRS), child behaviour checklist (CBCL), quality of life questionnaire (QL). We examined: HbA1c, fasting glucose levels, day insulin (IU/kg), the experience of DM 1, stages on Tanner. Results were conducted using SPSS.18.

Results: The experience of DM 1 was 4.9±3.6 years, HbA1c levels – 9.7±1.7%, fasting glucose levels – 8.9±1.5 mmol/l, insulin – 1.67±0.3 IU/kg. ANOVA DSRS showed that sleep deprivation was dependent on the experience of DM 1 (P=0.036) and glucose level (P=0.045). Low concentration (P=0.003), mood (P=0.001), higher irritability (P=0.017), low emotional (P=0.01), low confidence (P=0.044) levels, pessimism (P=0.027) levels were dependent on the stage of Tanner. At the same time low mood was dependent on the glucose (P=0.05) and insulin (IU/kg) (P=0.018) levels; higher irritability – with the experience of DM 1 (P=0–04); low confidence with insulin (IU/kg) (P=0.045); weight increasing – with insulin (IU/kg) (P=0.036). CBCL and QL showed that disorganization (P=0.02), the loss of time due to DM 1 (P=0.003) and time, conducted on glucose monitoring (P=0.005) were correlated with the experience of DM 1. The higher experience of DM 1 the more children are afraid of teacher’s attitude (P=0.009).

Conclusions: We found, that some psychological problems in children with DM 1 (sleep deprivation, low mood, low confidence) were dependent on the compensation of DM 1 and were increased due to puberty and the experience of DM 1.