Assessment of Quality of Life and its associated factors among Children and Adolescents with Type-I Diabetes Mellitus on follow-up at Pediatrics Endocrine Clinics of Specialized teaching Hospitals, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Investigators: Bisrat Tamene (MD)

Abstract

Abstract Background: Diabetes Mellitus is one of the most common chronic diseases during childhood and adolescence affecting approximately 96,000 children under 15 years annually worldwide with an overall annual increase of around 3%. It is serious disease associated with acute and chronic complications that threaten health and endanger life with important consequences for physical and emotional development of the child and adolescent. Objective: The study aimed at assessment of the quality of life and its associated factors among children and adolescents with Type-I Diabetes Mellitus on follow-up at Pediatrics Endocrine clinic of selected public hospitals in Addis Ababa from 25 February to 25 April 2021. Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was carried out among 379 Type-I Diabetes Mellitus patients at endocrine clinic. Participants were selected by simple random sampling technique. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data using the Pediatric quality of life inventory 4.0 generic core scales and inventory 3.2 diabetes modules, which is a modular approach to measure quality of life. Continuous variables are expressed in mean and standard deviation and mean scores of sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of children and adolescent‘s mean score of quality of life were compared using independent group t-tests and one-way ANOVAs. Paired sample t-test was used to compare children and adolescents self-report and caregiver‘s report. Multivariable linear regression is used to explore the real difference in mean score and to identify significant predictor factor of quality of life of children and adolescents. A P-value of ≤0.05 was considered to declare statistically significant association between independent and the outcome variables. Results: Total mean scores on the PedsQL™ 4.0 Generic Core Scale were found to be 88.42±10.82 out of 100 as reported by the children and adolescents themselves and the total mean scores were 82.17±12.65 as reported by primary care givers. The total score of the PedsQL Diabetes Module self-report were found to be 82.19±12.36 for the children and adolescents. Total mean scores of parent proxy reports for total PedsQL™ 3.2 Diabetes Module scoring was 78.13±12.66. In general, Age, mothers‘ and fathers‘ educational status, fathers‘ occupation, and frequency of monitoring of blood glucose, the type of individual administering insulin medication, attending diabetes health education and mean fasting blood sugar level were influencing factors for quality-of-life scoring of children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Conclusions: This study found that there was lower score in Generic Core Scale and Diabetes Module report by primary care givers than children and adolescents self report. Improving education status of parents, inclusive health education program about diabetes mellitus and frequent momnitoring of blood glucose level with a minimum of twice daily to interfer early is recommended to improve quality of life. Keyword: Quality of Life, Children, Adolescents, Type-I Diabetic Mellitus, PedsQL, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia