Neuropathy in paediatric type 1 diabetes mellitus - clinical characterization and analysis of risk factors in the diabetes prospective follow-up registry DPV (Diabetes-Patienten-Verlaufsdokumentation)-registry.

OBJECTIVES: Data on the prevalence, clinical features and risk factors associated with paediatric diabetic neuropathy (DN) are scarce. METHODS: We retrospectively analysed data from the DPV registry, including patients under 20 years of age, treated for type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) between 2005 and 2021. Patients with non-diabetic neuropathy were excluded. Data came from centres in Austria, Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland. RESULTS: 1,121 of the 84,390 patients included had been diagnosed with DN. Univariate analysis showed patients with DN to be older and predominantly female, with a longer duration of T1D, higher insulin dosages per kg and day, lower rates of insulin pump therapy, higher postprandial glucose-, higher HbA1c-and higher cholesterol levels, and higher diastolic and systolic blood pressure values. There was also a larger proportion of smokers and higher prevalence of diabetic retinopathy. Median duration of diabetes at diagnosis of DN was 8.3 years. Multivariable analysis, adjusted for demographics revealed an increased risk for DN among female patients and those who were older, underweight (BMI-SDS), smoked cigarettes or had a longer duration of T1D or higher levels of HbA1c and postprandial blood glucose. The presence of retinopathy and higher cholesterol levels were also linked to increased risk while not-using insulin pump therapy was not. CONCLUSIONS: DN can develop after just a short duration of T1D. Prevention may be achieved by a lowering of HbA1c-and postprandial glucose levels through improved glycaemic control. This warrants further investigation. The slight female predominance suggests further hormonal and genetic etiological factors.

Psychosocial benefits of insulin pump therapy in children with diabetes type 1 and their families: The pumpkin multicenter randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) is on the rise among pediatric patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Metabolic effects alone cannot explain this rising popularity. From the patient's perspective, the main benefits of CSII may be found in subjective psychosocial health outcomes (patient-reported outcomes [PRO]). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: In a multicenter open randomized controlled trial, children and adolescents aged 6 to16 years currently treated with multiple daily injections (MDI) were randomized 1:1, stratified by center, to either starting with CSII immediately after the baseline interview or to continuing MDI while waiting 6 months for transmission to CSII. The primary outcomes were patient-reported diabetes-specific health-related quality of life (DHRQOL) and diabetes burden of the main caregiver. Secondary outcomes were caregiver stress, fear of hypoglycemia, satisfaction with treatment, and HbA1c. RESULTS: Two-hundred and eleven patients were randomized between February 2011 and October 2014, and 186 caregivers and 170 patients were analyzed using the intention-to-treat principle for primary outcomes. Children 8 to 11 years in the CSII group reported improved DHRQOL at follow-up compared to MDI (median difference [MD] 9.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.6-16.7, P = 0.004). There were no treatment differences in the adolescent age-group 12 to 16 years (MD 2.7; 95% CI -3.2-9.5; P = 0.353). The main caregivers of the CSII group reported a significant decline of overall diabetes burden at follow-up compared to the MDI group (MD 0; 95% CI -1-0; P = 0.029). Secondary PROs also were in favor of CSII. CONCLUSIONS: CSII has substantial psychosocial benefits. PROs demonstrate these benefits. Registered as NCT01338922 at clinicaltrials.gov.

Comorbidity of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and type 1 diabetes in children and adolescents: Analysis based on the multicentre DPV registry.

BACKGROUND: The interaction between type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents has been studied rarely. We aimed to analyse metabolic control in children and adolescents with both T1DM and ADHD compared to T1DM patients without ADHD. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Auxological and treatment data from 56.722 paediatric patients (<20 years) with T1DM in the multicentre DPV (Diabetes Prospective Follow-up Initiative) registry were analysed. T1DM patients with comorbid ADHD were compared to T1DM patients without ADHD using multivariable mixed regression models adjusting for demographic confounders. RESULTS: We identified 1.608 (2.83%) patients with ADHD, 80.8% were male. Patients with comorbid ADHD suffered twice as often from diabetic ketoacidosis compared to patients without ADHD [10.2; 9.7-10.8 vs [5.4; 5.3-5.4] (P < .0001). We also found significant differences in HbA1c [8.6% (7.3-9.4); 66.7 mmol/mol (56.3-79.4) vs 7.8% (7.0-9.0); 62.1 mmol/mol (53.2-74.7)], insulin dose/kg [0.9 IU/kg (0.7-1.1) vs 0.8 IU/kg (0.7-1.0)], body mass index-standard deviation score (BMI-SDS) [0.2 (-0.5 to 0.8) vs 0.3 (-0.3 to 0.9)], body weight-SDS [0.1 (-0.5 to 0.8) vs 0.3 (0.3 - 0.9)]; (all P < 0.0001), and systolic blood pressure after adjustment [mean: 116.3 vs 117.1 mm Hg)]; (P < 0.005). CONCLUSION: Paediatric patients with ADHD and T1DM showed poor metabolic control compared to T1DM patients without ADHD. Closer cooperation between specialized paediatric diabetes teams and paediatric psychiatry/psychology seems to be necessary to improve diabetes care and metabolic control in this group of patients.

Frequency of SMBG correlates with HbA1c and acute complications in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes.

The aim of this study was to correlate the frequency of self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) to the quality of metabolic control as measured by hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), the frequency of hypoglycemia and ketoacidosis, and to see whether the associations between SMBG and these outcomes are influenced by the patient's age or treatment regime. We analyzed data from the DPV-Wiss-database of 26 723 children and adolescents aged 0-18 yr with type 1 diabetes recorded during 1995-2006. Variables evaluated were gender, age at visit, diabetes duration, therapy regime, insulin dose, body mass index-standard deviation scores (BMI-SDS), HbA1c, rate of hypoglycemia, and ketoacidosis. In the youngest age group of children under the age of 6 yr, the frequency of SMBG was the highest compared with that in children aged 6-12 yr or children aged > 12 yr: 6.0/d vs. 5.3/d vs. 4.4/d (p < 0.001). Frequency of SMBG differed significantly also in the different groups of treatment (p < 0.001), but only for the continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) group the frequency was considerably higher: 5.3/d (CSII) vs. 4.7/d (multiple daily injections) vs. 4.6/d (conventional therapy). Adjusted for age, gender, diabetes duration, year of treatment, insulin regimen, insulin dose, BMI-SDS, and center difference, SMBG frequency was significantly associated with better metabolic control with a drop of HbA1c of 0.20% for one additional SMBG per day (p < 0.001). Increasing the SMBG frequency above 5/d did not result in further improvement of metabolic control. A higher frequency of SMBG measurements was related to better metabolic control. But only among adolescents aged > 12 yr, metabolic control (HbA1c) improved distinctively with two or more blood glucose measurements.