The Relationship Between Maternal Fear of Hypoglycaemia and Adherence in Children with Type-1 Diabetes

Abstract

The results suggest that mothers who worry most about hypoglycaemia compensate by maintaining their child's blood glucose levels above recommended levels. Elevated blood glucose levels have important consequences for long-term health, and further research could explore ways to target maternal fear of hypoglycaemia.

Isolated thoughts and feelings and unsolved concerns: adolescents’ and parents’ perspectives on living with type 1 diabetes – a qualitative study using visual storytelling

“…The parties’ worries about future, such as the risk of long‐term complications, are, however, also known from previous studies (Carroll & Marrero , Freckleton et al . ), and the fact that the parties have difficulties in sharing these worries is also identified elsewhere (Husted et al . 2014a).…”

Fear of Hypoglycemia in Children and Adolescents and Their Parents with Type 1 Diabetes

“…Table 1 provides descriptions of the samples and findings from studies that have been published on FOH in the last decade. As expected, the most common predictor of FOH across almost all studies was parent report of their children experiencing severe hypoglycemic episodes [27, 31, 34, 37••, 40, 41]. However, no study has verified this by examining FOH in relation to objectively downloaded glucometer or insulin pump data.…”

“…Regarding youth scores, Johnson and colleagues [40] found that higher child/adolescent total scores on the HFS were associated with higher A1C values. Finally, in the most recent study, Freckleton and colleagues [41] found that higher parent HFS Behavior scores were associated with self-reported diary re- cords of higher daily blood glucose levels, although no association with children’s A1C was reported.…”

Young Children with Type 1 Diabetes: Challenges, Research, and Future Directions

“…Episodes of severe hypoglycemia can shake a parent's confidence to effectively manage diabetes, leading to increased anxiety, difficult sleeping, and heightened vigilance [39]. Parents may also change daily T1D management behaviors in response to hypoglycemia fear, as elevated worry about hypoglycemia has been related to higher daily BG levels in young children [58]. …”