Parents who live in fear of their children having hypoglycaemic episodes might have a negative effect on their child’s diabetes control, says a new study.
Good provision of psychological support for parents and their children with diabetes is therefore crucial.
The study, published in the journal Diabetic Medicine, found that parents who showed high levels of emotional distress resulting from their fear of hypoglycaemia had children with higher blood glucose levels.
This can cause an increased risk of potential long-term complications including heart disease, stroke, amputation, blindness and kidney disease. The parents' fear was also associated with higher frequency of problematic hypoglycaemic episodes in the past year.
Researchers based at Bergen University College, Norway, followed 200 parents of 115 children with Type 1 diabetes aged one to 15 years old.
Mothers of children with diabetes reported higher levels of fear than fathers and parents who reported an additional disease or mental disorder in their child also had more fear of hypoglycaemia then parents of children without an additional disease.
The study showed that parents were more likely to use inappropriate behaviour to avoid hypoglycaemia if their child used injections to control their diabetes rather than an insulin pump.
You can read the full article by clicking on the link here:
http://www.diabetes.org.uk/About_us/News_Landing_Page/Parents-fear-of-hypoglycaemia-impacts-on-childrens-diabetes-management/
Wednesday, 12 May 2010 12:52