OBJECTIVES

Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus affects the psychological and emotional well-being of patients and their families. This study aims to evaluate the health- related quality of life of children with Type 1.

METHODS

For the study the validated adapted PedsQL pediatric quality of life inventory 3.0 diabetes module was used. The age of child at the moment of questionnaire filling had to be 8-12 years. All patients from Armenia aged 8 - 12 years as of 2017 with type 1 diabetes were included in the study.

RESULTS

A total of 132 children aged 8-12 years with T1DM and their primary caregivers (n=132, 100% mothers) participated in this study including 60 girls and 72 boys (P=0.318). Diet habits of children with uneducated primary caregiver have not been changed due to their disease (p value 0.0138) and those children more often experienced hypoglycemia (p<0.001). In the whole cohort of children, 36 (27.27%) presented with comorbidities. In comparative analysis by gender we found different rates of comorbidities in boys and girls (P<0.001). There was statistically significant difference in mean HbA1C levels by gender (P<0.001).In comparison of HRQOL scores between boys and girls we have found significant differences in 17 items and in 15 items between child and parent. Comparison of QOL mean scores between girls and boys showed that girls reported lower QOL mean scores than boys (P<0.001).They also more than boys complained about difficulties associated with finger pricking (P=0.033), exercising and doing sport (P=0.002), and to snack when going “low” (P =0.002). Girls are more ambarrassed by their diabetes treatment than boys (P<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The PedsQL 3.0 Diabetes Module demonstrated excellent measurement properties and may be useful as standardized patient-reported outcomes of diabetes symptoms and diabetes management in clinical research, clinical trials, and practice in children, adolescents, and young adults with type 1 diabetes.