What Factors Increase Quality of Life in Teens With T1D?

HealthDay News — For children, teens, and young adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D), HbA1c is associated with better diabetes-specific health-related quality of life (D-HRQoL), according to a study published online in Diabetes Care.

Barbara J. Anderson, PhD, from the Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, and colleagues conducted an international, cross-sectional study of 8- to 25-year-olds with T1D. A total of 5887 participants from 20 countries were enrolled in 3 predetermined age groups: 8 to 12, 13 to 18, and 19 to 25 years. Patients completed the PedsQL Diabetes module 3.0 and were interviewed about family-related factors to assess D-HRQoL.

The researchers found that females reported significantly lower D-HRQoL than males across all age groups. The lowest D-HRQoL was reported by the 19- to 25-year age group. D-HRQoL correlated significantly with HbA1c in multivariate analyses; lower HbA1c correlated with better D-HRQoL. Advanced methods used to measure food intake, more frequent daily blood glucose monitoring, and more days per week with ≥30 minutes of physical activity were diabetes-management behaviors that were significantly correlated with better D-HRQoL.

“In all 3 age groups, the lower the HbA1c, the better the D-HRQoL, underscoring the strong association between better D-HRQoL and optimal glycemic control in a global sample of youth and young adults,” the authors write.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to pharmaceutical companies, including Sanofi Diabetes, which funded the study.

Reference

Anderson BJ, Laffel LM, Domenger C, et al. Factors associated with diabetes-specific health-related quality of life in youth with type 1 diabetes: the global TEENs sudy [published online May 2017]. Diabetes Care. doi:10.2337/dc16-1990