Current Pediatric Research

Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) is one of the most common chronic endocrine disorders among children and adolescents. As the incidence of this disease is dramatically increasing worldwide, complications of T1DM, including impaired children growth, remain a major concern. However, the question of whether growth is affected by the degree of diabetic control is still debatable. To address the relationship between both metabolic control (as assessed by hemoglobin A1c [HbA1c] levels) and duration of the disease and the growth status in children with T1DM. A cross-sectional study was conducted at King Abdulaziz University Hospital (KAUH), Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from June to August 2017 in 189 children aged from 3 to 18 yrs. The mean and standard deviations for height, weight, and Body Mass Index (BMI) were calculated and matched with both HbA1c levels and the duration of T1DM. Of the 118 children with T1DM, the mean age was 11.2 ± 4.2 yrs. The mean HbA1c level was 9.15%. Approximately 43.2% of children had poor metabolic control (HbA1c>9.0%), 32.2% had intermediate metabolic control (HbA1c=7.5-9.0%), and only 17.8% had good metabolic control (HbA1c<7.5%). The height z-score was significantly lower in patients in the intermediate control group than that of those in the good metabolic control group (p=0.049). There was also significant difference in weight z -score (p=0.008) with patients in the poor metabolic control group have lower score than the patients in the good metabolic control group. There was no association between the duration of diabetes and the height, weight, or BMI z-scores. There was a correlation between HbA1c levels and height z-scores; patients in the intermediate control group had lower scores than those in the good metabolic control group. However, the HbA1c level was negatively correlated with both weight and BMI z-scores.

Author(s): Farrah M Aljuhani, Abdulmoein E Al-Agha*, Bashair A Almunami, Eithar A Meftah, Raghda A Sultan, Randa A Sultan, Hend M Alsawadi, Murooj M Alahmadi, Rahf A Albogmi, Sumaya J Khaldi

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