Difficulties describing feelings to others predicts glycaemic control of children with type 1 diabetes up to 24 months later

Housiaux, Marie [UCL] Luminet, Olivier [UCL] Dorchy, Harry [USL-B]

Abstract Aim.˗ This 2-year follow-up study examined the long term respective contributions of time 1 measures (demographics, medical variables and alexithymia characteristics) in the prediction of follow-up measures of glycaemic control in a sample of young type 1 diabetic children. The goal was to see if the predictive role found previously of one alexithymia factor (‘difficulties describing feelings’) on glycaemic control was still observed in a longer term (HbA1c mean values measured 6-12-18 and 24 months later). Method.- Follow-up measures of HbA1c values for the original sample of diabetic children were collected. Four measurement times were considered for glycaemic control: at time 2 (6 months later), at time 3 (12 months later), at time 4 (18 months later) and at time 5 (24 months later). The final sample is 42 (2 drop-outs and 1 outlier). Results.- Hierarchical regression analyses with follow-up measures of glycaemic control at time 2-3-4-5 showed that the 5 predictor variables identified as relevant - demographic: marital status and parental education; medical: duration of diabetes and daily self-monitoring of blood glucose frequency; alexithymia factor: difficulty describing feelings -, were all significant predictors of HbA1c, except for the 18 months follow-up for which two predictors were not significant. Conclusion.- Results show for the first time that diabetic children’s difficulty in expressing their feelings to others has a long term impact on their glycaemic control. It emphasizes the importance of screening for alexithymia scores from the onset of diabetes treatment and to consider specific psychological interventions with them. Key words: Type 1 Diabetes; Difficulties describing feelings; Alexithymia; Longitudinal; Glycaemic control; Emotion regulation; Diabetic children.