Nutritional Status and School Adjustment of Juvenile Diabetics
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Date
2011
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Publisher
UAS, Dharwad
Abstract
An investigation on the “Nutritional status and school adjustment of juvenile
diabetics” was undertaken in the year 2010-2011 to record the prevalence of juvenile
diabetes in Hubli and Dharwad cities according to registry, to assess the nutritional
status in terms of anthropometry and nutrient adequacy. School adjustment was
assessed in terms of social, emotional, educational adjustment, by a scale developed
by Sinha and Singh (1997), academic performance and participation in extracurricular
activities was assessed by a structured questionnaire. Thirty juvenile diabetics aged
below 18 years were selected randomly, equal number of age, gender and region
matched subjects served as controls.
The study revealed that there is an increasing incidence of type I diabetes
in children, growth is retarded in diabetic children and belonged to underweight
category (40%) due to lower adequacy of nutrients, imbalanced intake of nutrients
and poor metabolic control. Poor metabolic control was evident in higher percentage
of diabetics as evidenced by FBG (63.33%) and PPBG (76.66%). Life style changes
such as insulin therapy, frequent visits to clinics, making suitable food choices,
frequent missing of schools, make juvenile diabetic children different from the normal
peer group and thus resulting in lower academic achievement and poor social,
emotional and educational adjustment. Doctors, dieticians and parents have to play a
significant role in tackling these problems. Hence, education regarding nutrition,
coping skills, treatment adherence and control of disease, psychological interventions
can be imparted to the children with diabetes and their parents so that they can lead a
healthy and normal life as that of their peers.
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Keywords
Food Science and Nutrition