Assessment of the quality of life of children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes: Child and Parental views

Improvement of the quality of life (Qol) in addition to controlling symptoms of the disease in children and adolescents with chronic illness such as diabetes mellitus is important. Problems such as diabetes are not only recognized by the physician and nurses but also by the patients. The impact of the diabetes and its complications on Qol is still unknown. The number of studies on Qol of diabetic patients is limited. The aim of this study was to carry out a comparative assessment of the views of children and adolescents with type I diabetes on the Qol. In this historical cohort study the views of the children and adolescents with type I diabetes, and the views of their parents were assessed. A questionnaire on pediatric quality of life including children's and parent's views was used to collect data in four sections of physical (8 items), emotional (5items), social (5 items), and school performance (5items). Data were analyzed by inferential statistics, independent t-test, Mann-Whitney test and spearman correlation. The results of this study showed no significant difference between the mean scores of Qol of diabetic children and control group, but there was a significant difference between two groups in physical aspect of Qol in diabetic children and control subjects. Parent's views showed that parents of children with diabetes were more worried than those of controls. There was a significant difference between scores of total quality of life in its physical, emotional and social aspects between parents of the diabetic children and parents of the control group (p=0.001). This study showed that views of the children and adolescents with type I diabetes were different from those of control group in regard to physical aspect. Also the views of parents of children and adolescents with type I diabetes were different from those of control group concerning quality of life in particular, emotional and physical aspects. Therefore we recommend in addition to providing medical care, programs for improvement of the level of mental health of these patients and their families be designed.