Association between Socioeconomic Status and Glycemic Control in Children with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

Considering the higher rate of suboptimal glycemic control in type 1 diabetic(T1DM) children and the increasing trend of T1DM in our community and worldwide and the role of glycemic control in preventing complications of the patients along with the lack of studies regarding the role of family socioeconomic status (SES) and its indicators in our community, we aimed to investigate the association between family SES and glycemic control in children and adolescents with T1DM in Isfahan, Iran.
In this cross sectional study, T1DM patients aged 1-18 years were enrolled. The patients were classified into two groups, with and without appropriate glycemic control, based on the mean of the last three HbA1c mean levels. The characteristics of the patients in different categories of family SES were compared and the associations were evaluated.
In this study 312 children with T1DM (156 with and without optimal glycemic control) and their families were evaluated. Low, moderate and high family SES was presented in 20.4%, 71.6% and 8% of the total population. Frequency of low SES was significantly higher in patients with poor glycemic control (P<0.001).There was significant positive association between family SES and appropriate glycemic control (P<001, OR=6.63, CI95%; 2.2-19.3).
Our findings indicated that in accordance with previous studies, the SES of Iranian families, assessed by multiple factors of parents’ and families’ characteristics, is associated with glycemic control of children with T1DM. These findings would be helpful for health care professionals to design more comprehensive programs based on the SES of the patients' families as well as healthcare policymakers to properly allocate resources in order to obtain more appropriate glycemic control for all patients with T1DM.