In the June 2010 issue of "Diabetes Care," a publication put out by the American Diabetes Association, there was an interesting study conducted by Ann Marie McCarthy, PHD, RN, PNP, Scott Lindgren, PHD, Michelle A. Mengeling, MS, Eva Tsalikian, MD, and Janet Engvall, MSN, RN, CDE at the University of Iowa. The paper, titled "Factors Associated With Academic Achievement in Children With Type 1 Diabetes," examined factors that affect academic achievement in children with diabetes.
The study included 244 children between the ages of eight and eighteen years who had type I diabetes. Researchers measured academic achievement using "school-administered standardized achievement tests (Iowa Tests of Basic Skills and Iowa Tests of Educational Development [ITBS/ITED]), grade point averages (GPAs), school absences, and behavioral assessment." These results were analyzed in light of "age at disease onset, hospitalizations, and HbA1c." The study also examined socioeconomic status of each child.
The results of the study showed that children who had poor control over their diabetes had lower reading scores and GPAs than children who had average control, and children with hospitalizations for hyperglycemia had lower overall achievement scores than children with and fewer hospitalizations for hyperglycemia. Other diabetes related factors had no clear relationship with academic achievement. For example, an earlier onset and diagnosis did not affect test scores. Overall, medical variables added only slightly to predictive precision.
However, socioeconomic status and parent ratings of behavior problems were significantly correlated with academic achievement. Therefore, researchers concluded that medical variables are not as strongly associated with academic achievement as are factors such as socioeconomic status and behavioral factors, even in children with diabetes.
It is important to remember that the study examined only the effect of blood sugar control on academic achievement. Although researchers only found slight effects on test scores and GPA, the study is not meant to take away from the urgency of poor blood sugar control. Extreme hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia, especially episodes that require hospitalization, will always negatively impact patient quality of life and should be treated as emergencies. However, the study does suggest that the struggles of having diabetes do not necessarily have to hinder academic performance; children with diabetes can be successful in school and should be encouraged to reach their academic potential.
