Type 1 Diabetes (DM1) in childhood and adolescence is a chronic disease that affects health related quality of life (HRQOL). HRQOL instruments can be used to evaluate the effect on the quality of life depending on therapy such as continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) or multiple doses of insulin (MDI).
A study was designed to assess the differences in HRQOL in two groups of children and teenagers with DM1 according to treatment modality.
157 children and teenagers aged 8 to 18 years followed in 8 Pediatrics Diabetes Units in Spain, filled up two self-reported HRQOL instruments. These HRQOL instruments were the Spanish version of DISABKIDS Chronic generic measure (DCGM-12) and the DISABKIDS Diabetes Module. The DCGM-12 assesses the HRQOL globally in chronic conditions. The Diabetes Module is divided in an Impact and a Treatment scale. Sociodemographic and glycemic control data were recorded.
There were not significant differences in sociodemographic factors, glycemic control, and HRQOL score between the two groups.
| MDI (n:103) | CSII (n:54) | Statistical significance | |
| Χ ± SD | Χ± SD | ||
| HbA1c (%) | 7.08 ± 0.90 | 7.00 ± 0.63 | 0.54 |
| DCGM-12 Range (0-100) | 79.81 ± 14.50 | 83.37 ± 12.02 | 0.12 |
| Impact Scale Range (0-100) | 61.04 ± 16.00 | 63.73 ± 15.07 | 0.31 |
| Treatment Scale Range (0-100) | 66.62 ± 24.56 | 70.49 ± 22.92 | 0.34 |
| Table 1: HRQOL according to treatment modality. | |||
The patients with CSII therapy had slightly better HRQOL score in DCGM-12 and in both specific scales of DM1 than the MDI group, but these differences were not statistically significant.