Diabetes-related distress over time and its associations with glucose levels in school-aged children.

INTRODUCTION

In a cohort of families of school-age children (8-12.99 years old) with type 1 diabetes, we examined the stability of parent and child diabetes-related distress (DRD) over 6 months and the associations between parent and child DRD and child glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) over time.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

We recruited families from two large pediatric hospital systems in the USA and used validated measures of parent (Parent Problem Areas in Diabetes-Child, PPAID-C) and child (Problem Areas in Diabetes-Child, PAID-C) DRD and children's HbA1c. We collected data at baseline and 6 months. We calculated minimal clinically important differences in PPAID-C and PAID-C to examine DRD stability and used a linear regression model to examine associations between PPAID-C and PAID-C scores and child HbA1c over time.

RESULTS

We recruited n=132 parent-child dyads (mean child age=10.23±1.5 years; 50% male, 86% non-Hispanic white). 60% of children and 55% of parents reported stable DRD levels, 20% of children and 14% of parents reported increasing DRD levels, and 20% of children and 31% of parents reported decreasing DRD levels from baseline to 6 months. In the regression model, child HbA1c and DRD scores at baseline significantly predicted child HbA1c 6 months later, β=0.013, t(157)=2.32, p=0.02.

CONCLUSIONS

Across 6 months, DRD remained stable or increased in 80% of school-aged children and 69% of parents. Only child HbA1c and DRD at baseline predicted higher child HbA1c 6 months later. Our results suggest it may be valuable to screen families of school-age children for DRD routinely and to develop treatments to help them reduce DRD.