WORLD JOURNAL OF ADVANCE
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

*Sahar Elham Karany and Dhilal Shahin Ali

ABSTRACT

Background: Insulin dependent diabetes is mostly controlled by diet, and a poor diet can impact metabolic balance and have other detrimental health implications. Since children with insulin dependent diabetes are in growing state malnutrition can cause a major problem due to the incapacitating and chronic nature of the condition as a result, their nutritional status should be routinely assessed. Objectives: To assess the nutritional status of children and adolescents who have insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and identify potential risk factors for undernutrition in Mosul City. Methods: It is a descriptive, observational, case-control study. The study was carried out in Mosul's Al Khansa'a and Ibin Sina Teaching Hospitals between the beginning of October 2022 and the end of September 2023. One hundred randomly chosen patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus under the age of fifteen and had the disease for at least a year (cases) were included in the study. They were compared with one hundred controls who were matched for age and gender. The questionnaire consists of three sections: the first asks questions about socio-demographics, the second asks questions about anthropometry, and the third asks questions about diabetes. Results: Out of 200 participants included in the study; 110 (55%) were females and 90 (45%) were males. With female: male ratio= 1.22. The study participants had a mean age of 10.23 ± 3.78 years. There were significant differences between patients and controls in terms of weight for age Z score, height for age Z score, BMI for age Z score, and mid upper arm circumference Z score (P value < 0.001). Moreover; the case group is divided into two subgroups, patients with normal nutritional state represent 75 cases and those with undernourished presenting 25 cases, statistically significant difference is found between these sub-groups regarding their ages (P value=0.041) and their onset of diabetes (P value 0.021). Weight for age Z-score and BMI Z-score were founded to have mild negative correlation with HbA1c level (P value=0.015 and 0.029), respectively. Furthermore; multivariate logistic regression revealed that school age (OD=0.67, CI=0.356-0.971, P value=0.041), Adolescent (OD=3.48, CI=1.389-5.381, P value=0.035), female gender (OD=2.36, CI=1.023-3.202, P value=0.033), large family size (OD=2.892, CI=2.135-3.355, P value=0.028), disease duration (OD=1.823, CI=1.092-2.490, P value=0.024) were independent predictors of undernutrition in insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. Conclusion: Anthropometric measurements were significantly lower in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus than in the general population. In insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, undernutrition was found to be independently associated with length of disease, female gender, larger family size, and older children. Additionally, there was a significant negative association between BMI, weight for age, and HbA1c.