Department of Community Medicine, National University, Khartoum, Khartoum State, Sudan.
Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Khartoum State, Sudan.
Endocrinol Diabetes Metab. 2025 Jan;8(1):e70014. doi: 10.1002/edm2.70014.
Diabetes mellitus is the most common endocrine disease in childhood which significantly impacts quality of life, morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to investigate the socioeconomic background of children with diabetes and their families and to assess its association with diabetes control.
This cross-sectional study was conducted in Khartoum State, Sudan, in 2018, at three outpatient diabetes clinics, using standardised questionnaires. We included 138 diabetic children (T1D and T2D) aged 2-18 years using systematic random sampling. Descriptive statistics, economic indicator and inferential statistics were applied using SPSS version 20. An HbA1C level of > 7.0% was set as the cut-point for uncontrolled diabetes. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
The mean age of the children was 11.1 (3.64) years. Over half of the respondents were not covered by any insurance scheme and 73% lived in urban areas. Mothers had a mean age of 37.3 (7.8), with one-fourth being illiterate, while fathers had a mean age of 45.4 (9.3). Twenty per cent of parents had higher education. Two-thirds of the participants had their HbA1C levels checked within the last 3 months. The prevalence of uncontrolled diabetes was 78.0%. No statistically significant association was found between HbA1C levels and families' socioeconomic, demographic or clinical characteristics (p > 0.05).
Neither children' nor parents' characteristics influenced HbA1C level. The high rate of uncontrolled diabetes (78.0%), and other countries showing better profiles of control, suggests the need for exploring other contributing factors. Insulin availability and lack of home glucose monitoring need to be considered. We recommend future prospective studies to consider these factors and use multiple HbA1C measures' average as a better indicator of diabetic control.
糖尿病是儿童中最常见的内分泌疾病，它显著影响生活质量、发病率和死亡率。本研究旨在调查儿童糖尿病及其家庭的社会经济背景，并评估其与糖尿病控制的关系。
这是一项 2018 年在苏丹喀土穆州进行的横断面研究，在三个门诊糖尿病诊所使用标准化问卷进行。我们使用系统随机抽样纳入了 138 名 2-18 岁的糖尿病儿童（1 型和 2 型）。采用 SPSS 20 版进行描述性统计、经济指标和推断性统计。HbA1C 水平>7.0%被设定为糖尿病控制不佳的切点。p 值<0.05 被认为具有统计学意义。
儿童的平均年龄为 11.1（3.64）岁。超过一半的受访者没有任何保险计划，73%的人居住在城市地区。母亲的平均年龄为 37.3（7.8）岁，四分之一是文盲，而父亲的平均年龄为 45.4（9.3）岁。20%的父母接受过高等教育。三分之二的参与者在过去 3 个月内检查了 HbA1C 水平。未控制糖尿病的患病率为 78.0%。HbA1C 水平与家庭的社会经济、人口统计学或临床特征之间没有发现统计学上的显著关联（p>0.05）。
儿童和父母的特征都没有影响 HbA1C 水平。未控制糖尿病的高比率（78.0%），以及其他国家显示出更好的控制情况，表明需要探索其他影响因素。胰岛素的供应和缺乏家庭血糖监测需要考虑。我们建议未来的前瞻性研究考虑这些因素，并使用多个 HbA1C 测量值的平均值作为糖尿病控制的更好指标。
