Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), patients have an increased risk of psychiatric morbidity compared to their healthy counterparts. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the demographic and laboratory data and psychological characteristics of children with T1DM from two geographical regions of Turkey. The study included 98 pediatric T1DM patients followed in pediatric endocrinology clinics from Diyarbakir (n=50), an eastern city and Antalya (n=48) a western city, and 43 healthy subjects from Diyarbakir (n=20) and Antalya (n=23). The sociodemographic data, duration of diabetes and the glycated hemoglobin levels (HbA1c) were also noted. For the evaluation of emotional and behavioral problems in children, Turkish version of The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) 6-18, and for depression, Child depression inventory (CDI) was used. Patients from the Diyarbakır Diabetes Mellitus (DDM) group had a longer duration of diabetes compared to those of the Antalya Diabetes Mellitus (ADM) group, while HbA1c levels were not statistically different. Children with T1DM from Diyarbakır reported higher problem scores in CBCL in majority of domains and both internalizing and externalizing subscores compared to the controls and in all domains compared to the patients from Antalya. The CDI scores of the DDM group were also significantly higher than those of the ADM group. In conclusion, diabetic children from Diyarbakır had more problems in emotional, social and behavioral domains compared to the healthy peers and patients from Antalya, indicating that T1DM brought more psychosocial burden to these patients independently from the metabolic control. Pediatric specialists working in the eastern region should be more precautious with diabetic patients in terms of comorbid psychiatric conditions and psychiatric referral when needed.

Keywords: child behavior checklist, children, depression, disease burden, type 1 diabetes mellitus