Impact on the quality of life of adolescents with diabetes mellitus type 1

Introduction: Type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM1) is a chronic disease. Objective: To identify scientific evidence on the impact of DM1 on the quality of life of adolescents with this disease. Method: Systematic review in the bibliographic databases MEDLINE, LILACS, CINAHL, and ScIELO, using the following descriptors: "Adolescent*", "Teen*", "Diabetes Mellitus, Type1", "Diabetes, type 1", "Type 1 diabetes", "Quality of life", "Health related quality of life", "Life quality", "Health impact assessment", "Health impact", "Impact assessment, health", "Diabetes Impact Measurement Scales", "PedsQL", "Glycated Hemoglobin A1c", "Glycosylated Hemoglobin A1c", and "HbA1c". Out of 679 articles identified, 25 were included in the analysis. Some studies were national and international multicenter. The most widely used instruments related to quality of life measurements were the Pediatric Quality of Life Questionnaire (PedsQL) in its generic version and the diabetes module. Results: The quality of life assessed by the adolescent with DM1 using Quality of Life Scales is significantly and inversely associated with HbA1c values. This association includes a significant correlation between the total generic quality of life scores and HbA1c but does not have the same impact on specific scores. Conclusions: Metabolic control appears to be the cornerstone that influences the impact on the bidirectional relationship between DM1 and quality of life, however, there is no absolute consensus on the types of factors and degrees that would influence metabolic control.