Stressful life events and psychological dysfunctions before the onset of type 1 diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Aim: To test the hypothesis that stressful life events and psychological dysfunction increase the risk for development of type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM1). Method: A case-control study comprising 105 children with DM1 and 210 controls matched by age (± 1 year), sex and place of residence. Conditional univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used to analyze the data. Results: After adjustment for possible confounders, the following factors were positively related to DM1: parents' job-related issues - changed or lost job (odds ratio [OR] 11.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.6-81.8); other severe life events - severe accident, hospitalization or death of close friend, quarrels between parents, war in republics of former Yugoslavia, near-drowning in a pool, falling down, unhurt participant of an accident (OR 68.5, 95% CI 13.5-349.0); other minor life events - conflicts with parents/teacher/neighbors, lost in town, physical attack, failure in competition, penalty, examination, death of pet, presence at lightning strike, thrown out of dwelling (OR 32.7, 95% CI 6.3-169.6); and learning problems (OR 17.5, 95% CI 4.3-71.6). Conclusion: These results support the hypothesis that stressful life events and psychological dysfunctions are associated with DM1. © Freund Publishing House Ltd.