Self-control with urinalysis in juvenile diabetes.

Urinary glucose excretion reflects the blood glucose levels and is therefore recommended and used as a relevant and practical method for self-control in juvenile diabetes. The purpose of this study was to estimate the attitudes of diabetic children and their parents towards such daily urinalysis. In 1975 69 juvenile diabetics 6--18 years old and their parents were studied and three years later another 69 patients were added. Standardized interviews and questionnaires were used. Only 3 out of 138 patients refused to test their urine regularly and to write down their results in the diary. The results indicate that a great majority of the patients and the parents easily accept the self-testing method and regard it as a valuable tool in the management of the disease. Almost nobody experienced the urine tests as a psychological problem.