Health-related quality of life of adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus.
Maria Amélia de Souza, Roberto Wagner Junior Freire de Freitas, Luciane Soares de Lima and 3 others
PMID 31826155WHAT IT FOUND
Adolescents with type 1 diabetes in Brazil generally reported high health-related quality of life, but the impact domain was lowest.
Poorer control, complications, hospitalization, more insulin injections and lower economic class were linked with worse quality of life.
Key findings
01The impact domain had the highest mean score, 53.0, indicating lower quality of life than the other domains.
02Adolescents with high HbA1c levels were 11 times more likely to have low total HRQoL.
03Complications, hospitalization, four or more daily insulin injections, poor self-perceived health and economic class D were associated with greater impairment of quality of life.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This was a cross-sectional study, so it can show associations but not prove that poor control, injections or hospitalization caused worse quality of life. It was done in a single reference diabetes centre in Brazil with a multidisciplinary team and support programmes, so results may not apply to adolescents with less support. Of 120 adolescents in the service universe, 28 were excluded because they were not in regular care, so young people who were disengaged may be missing. The authors state that the design and cultural or regional differences limit generalising the results.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that changing insulin injections or glucose control alone will improve quality of life. The paper describes care including insulin, blood glucose monitoring, diabetes education on healthy eating and physical activity, attention to family dynamics, and multidisciplinary team support, so the effect of any single component cannot be separated.