Issue 92 Item 2 Good Metabolic Control Is Associated With Better Quality of Life

Children with diabetes who have a better quality of life also maintain better control of their blood-glucose levels, accord­ing to worldwide statistics. Twenty-one research centers across 15 European countries, Canada and Japan participated in the study, which was published in the November 2001 issue of Diabetes Care. 

From March to August 1998, researchers studied 2,010 adoles­cents with diabetes born between 1980 and 1987 (aged 10 to 18). The subjects’ A1C levels were measured, and they filled out questionnaires measuring the impact of diabetes on their lives, their worries about diabetes, their satisfaction with life and their perception of their health. Parents and healthcare providers filled out questionnaires that assessed the burden that children with diabetes put on the family.

The children’s mean A1C was 8.7%. Those with lower A1C 1evels said diabetes had a smaller impact on their lives, and they reported fewer worries, greater satisfaction and better health perception. Girls had more worries less satisfaction and worse health perception at an earlier age then boys. The perception of burden reported by parents and health care providers lessened as the children’s age increased.

Lower A1Cs are “significantly” associated with better quality of life for children with diabetes, the researchers write. Diabetes Care 24:1923-1928, 2001