Department of Psychology, université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Research institute for Psychological Sciences, 10 place Cardinal-Mercier, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
Diabetes Metab. 2010 Dec;36(6 Pt 1):455-62. doi: 10.1016/j.diabet.2010.06.004. Epub 2010 Sep 21.
This study examined the respective contributions of the demographics, medical variables and alexithymia characteristics of young diabetics to their glycaemic control. The goal was to replicate the role of the 'difficulty describing feelings' factor of alexithymia in the prediction of poor glycaemic control as has been found in adult diabetic populations.
The study included 45 type 1 diabetic children, aged 8-12 years (24 girls and 21 boys). Participants completed a sociodemographic questionnaire and provided medical information on their diabetes. HbA(1c) values (glycated haemoglobin), and the number of severe hypoglycaemic episodes and hospitalizations for hyperglycaemia, were collected for the previous 12 months (3 months for severe hypoglycaemias). Alexithymia characteristics were measured by means of the Alexithymia Questionnaire for children.
Hierarchical regression analyses confirmed that both demographic (marital status and parental education; P<0.05) and medical (duration of diabetes and daily self-monitoring of blood glucose frequency; P<0.01) variables are associated with HbA(1c) levels. More important, one alexithymia factor (difficulty describing feelings) was found to be an additional predictor over and above the other variables (P<0.01), explaining an additional 12% of the total variance in HbA(1c) levels.
Confirming results already observed in diabetic adults, the present findings show, for the first time, that children who have difficulties in expressing their feelings to others are more at risk of poor glycaemic control. In future, it will be useful to identify the diabetic young people who have such difficulties and to consider interventions designed specifically for them.
本研究旨在探讨年轻糖尿病患者的人口统计学、医学变量和述情障碍特征对其血糖控制的各自贡献。目的是复制述情障碍“难以描述情感”因子在预测成人糖尿病患者血糖控制不佳中的作用。
该研究纳入了 45 名年龄在 8-12 岁的 1 型糖尿病儿童（24 名女孩和 21 名男孩）。参与者完成了一份社会人口统计学问卷，并提供了有关其糖尿病的医疗信息。收集了过去 12 个月（3 个月用于严重低血糖）的糖化血红蛋白（HbA1c）值（糖化血红蛋白）以及严重低血糖发作和因高血糖住院的次数。使用儿童述情障碍问卷测量述情障碍特征。
层次回归分析证实，人口统计学（婚姻状况和父母教育程度；P<0.05）和医学（糖尿病病程和每日自我监测血糖频率；P<0.01）变量均与 HbA1c 水平相关。更重要的是，发现述情障碍的一个因素（难以描述情感）是除其他变量之外的另一个预测因素（P<0.01），可以解释 HbA1c 水平总方差的 12%。
与已在糖尿病成人中观察到的结果一致，本研究结果首次表明，难以向他人表达情感的儿童更有可能血糖控制不佳。未来，识别出具有这种困难的糖尿病年轻人，并考虑为他们专门设计干预措施将是有益的。
