Assessment of diabetes-specific knowledge and its determinants among children with type 1 diabetes mellitus and their primary caregivers: Experience from a tertiary care center in North India.

OBJECTIVES

Assessment of diabetes-specific knowledge among children with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and their caregivers using a validated diabetes knowledge test (DKT) and to determine the factors associated with DKT score.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital, New Delhi (India). Children 5-18 years with T1D and caregivers were evaluated using a validated DKT tool to assess knowledge in basic and advance domains. The factors associated with DKT scores were studied.

RESULTS

A total of 110 T1D children with mean (SD) age 12.2 (3.3) years and duration 5.3 (2.7) years were assessed. The mean (SD) composite DKT score (%) was 58.0 (11.1) while in basic and advance domains were 66.4 (9.5) and 50.4(1.5), respectively. Maternal education (≥graduate), socio-economic strata (≥upper middle), annual per capita income (>Rs 50,000/700 USD), urban setting and HbA1c<8.5 % were significantly associated with higher odds of DKT score>50 %. HbA1c<8.5 % and urban setting were significant predictors of the DKT score on multivariate logistic regression analysis (p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

DKT can identify individual challenges in specific (basic or advance) domains related to diabetes self-management skills. Higher maternal education significantly impacted achieving a high DKT score and improved glycemic control.