Anxiety symptoms in adolescents with type 1 diabetes: association with blood glucose monitoring and glycaemic control

Objective To examine the prevalence of anxiety symptoms and their association with blood glucose monitoring (BGM) and glycemic control in adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Methods 276 adolescents and their caregivers completed measures of anxiety symptoms. Adolescents completed a measure of depressive symptoms. Demographic and family characteristics were obtained from caregiver report. Diabetes duration, regimen type, BGM frequency, and glycemic control were also collected. Results Trait anxiety symptoms that suggest further clinical assessment is needed were present in 17 % of adolescents; the rate was 13 % for state anxiety symptoms. Higher levels of state anxiety symptoms were associated with less frequent BGM F(14, 261) 6.35, p<.0001, R2 .25, and suboptimal glycemic control, F(15, 260) 7.97, p<.0001, R2 .32. State anxiety symptoms were correlates of BGM frequency and glycemic control independent of depressive symptoms. Conclusions State anxiety symptoms are associated with less frequent BGM and suboptimal glycemic control in adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Key words adolescents; anxiety; type 1 diabetes; glycemic control. Adolescents with type 1 diabetes are at increased risk of problematic psychological functioning. Much of the work in this area has focused on depression (Grey, Whittemore