Comparing mental health of people with type I diabetes mellitus and non-diabetic people

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease which widely affects individual health and social performance. The purpose of this study was to compare the mental health of patients with type I diabetes and non-diabetic individuals.

This was a comparative after-the-fact study conducted in 2011. The participants included 50 patients with type I diabetes who were members of Diabetic Association of Ahvaz city, Iran. Also, 50 non-diabetic relatives of the patients were selected as the control group. Both groups were similar regarding sex and educational status. The 28-item general health questionnaire (GHQ-28) was distributed among both groups. The acquired data were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multivariate variance analysis method (MANOVA).

There was a significant difference regarding mental health between those with type I diabetes and those without diabetes (P <. 001) except in social dysfunction.

Type I diabetes can affect the mental health of the patients.