Assessment of childhood diabetes-related quality-of-life in West Sweden

Aim: To investigate health-related quality-of-life (HrQoL) in childhood diabetes and the level of agreement between West Sweden and European reference data for the new multi-cultural European questionnaire - DISABKIDS. Method: Twenty percent of the Swedish paediatric diabetes population was included in the survey. Child-parent pairs completed the DISABKIDS chronic generic (37 questions) and diabetes modules (10 questions) during their routine clinic visit. A one-page results summary, based on positive domains, was used to provide feedback to clinicians. Results: Three hundred and sixty-one child-parent pairs were included in the analysis. In Sweden, diabetes was perceived by the children as having less impact than the European average. Swedish parents rated the HrQoL of their children lower than did the European parents. Swedish girls had a lower HrQoL than boys and greater difficulty accepting their diabetes; adolescents had greater difficulty accepting the diagnosis than younger children. Parents reported greater impact of diabetes on their children than the children themselves but reported no difference between boys and girls. Parents reported better acceptance of treatment in boys. The child's reported quality-of-life (QoL) is related to age and gender. Conclusion: Our results confirm the applicability of DISABKIDS to the Swedish paediatric diabetes population.