Psychological stress and the onset of IDDM in children.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of the study was to determine whether psychosocial stress during different life periods could be a risk factor in the etiology/pathogenesis of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) in children.


METHODS
In a population-based sample of 67 case patients 0-14 years of age and 61 matched healthy control subjects, life events during the entire lifespan before the onset of IDDM were recorded as well as measures of child behavior before onset, social support, and family function.


RESULTS
Negative life events occurring during the first 2 years of life, life events with difficult adaptation, child behavioral deviances, and a more chaotic family function were more common in the case group. A stepwise logistic regression indicated that negative life events in the first 2 years increased the risk of IDDM and that premorbid child behavior as well as dysfunctional hierarchical family pattern affect the risk.


CONCLUSIONS
Stress early in life may increase the risk for IDDM, presumably by affecting the autoimmune process. To confirm these results, it is necessary to make a truly prospective study.
Thernlund
G M
GM
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Lund, Sweden.
Dahlquist
G
G
Hansson
K
K
Ivarsson
S A
SA
Ludvigsson
J
J
Sjöblad
S
S
Hägglöf
B
B
D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003643:Death; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D009017:Morbidity; D012016:Reference Values; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires