Current Pediatric Research

Objective: To assess the prevalence of emotional and behavioral changes, depression symptoms, as well as risk factors that affect the development of depression in children and adolescents with type 1 or 2 diabetes. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with the department of pediatric and endocrinology on children and adolescents with type 1 or 2 diabetes at various ambulatory diabetic centers in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, between July and September 2017. The study had three parts: collection of participant personal data, and completion of two self-report depression inventories, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC) and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The personal data questionnaire assessed the socioeconomic status of the family and its effect on the patient’s condition. Pearson’s regression was also used to test correlation between depression score and other variables. Results: Approximately 67.5% of the 120 patients were at risk of depression based on the CES-DC scale. The SDQ showed that 10% of the patients were borderline and 30% abnormal in the emotional aspect, 14.2% were borderline and 30% abnormal in the conduct aspect, 10% were borderline and 10%abnormal in the hyperactivity aspect, 24.2% were borderline and 10.8% abnormal in the hyperactivity aspect and 8.3% were borderline and 9.2% abnormal in the prosocial aspect. Conclusion: Depressive symptoms have a high prevalence among children and adolescents with diabetes, including other abnormalities in the emotional, conduct, hyperactivity, peer and prosocial aspects. All children and adolescents with diabetes should be screened for depressive symptoms, as well as other social and psychological abnormalities.

Author(s): Eman Alkhairi, Abdulmoein E AlAgha, Arwa Alasmari, Asmaa Khan, Nuha Hijazi, Yara Subahi, Ghofran Sulaimani, Nada Telmesani, Yara Bojan, Israa Alzarmah

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