Factors Affecting Glycemic Control in Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus among Children in Sulaimani Governorate, Iraq

Background and aim: Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) has been introduced as the second commonest chronic disorder in childhood. T1DM can lead to long-term complications which can be controlled through glycemic control which is under the influence of several factors such as age, lifestyle, family structure, duration of diabetes, and so forth. In this regard, the present study was carried out in order to specify and examine effective factors in glycemic control in type 1 diabetes mellitus among children in Sulaimani governorate, Iraq.Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 104 children with T1DM were recruited and the required data on their sociodemographic characteristics and glycocyted hemoglobin (HbA1c) were collected. Afterwards, the association between different factors and glycemic control was examined through Chi-square test, Student’s t-test, ANOVA, and Fisher’s exact test using SPSS 25.0.Results: The results of data analysis indicated that there was a significant relationship between the T1DM children’s glycemic control and their age (p=0.005), while it had no significant association with other factors including sex, celiac disease, BMI, family economic status, father education level, and mother education level (p> 0.05).Conclusion: According to the results of the present study, glycemic control was significantly affected by the children’s age. Therefore, this factorshould be paid more attention to while treating children with type 1 diabetes mellitus.

Keywords:

type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) , glycemic control , children , glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) , Sulaimani