Exploring Knowledge and Safety Practices for Driving in Youth With Type 1 Diabetes

The aim of this work was to survey how well adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) of legal driving age understand the risks associated with driving with diabetes and report adherence to recommendations.

This study was a cross-sectional survey of 191 adolescents, 14 to 18 years of age, with T1D.

The average (standard deviation [SD]) glycated hemoglobin of respondents with a learner's or a driver's license was 9.0% (SD, 1.9%) and 8.9% (SD, 1.9%), respectively (p=0.91). The proportions of adolescents with a learner's or a driver's license who almost always or always checked their blood glucose prior to driving was 69% and 41%, respectively (p=0.01). Eighteen percent of adolescents with a learner's license and 41% with a driver's license experienced hypoglycemia while driving. The average number of weekly hypoglycemic events in each group was 2.0 (SD, 1.4) and 2.3 (SD, 2.0), respectively. There was a higher reported frequency of weekly mild hypoglycemic events between drivers who reported pulling over at least once while driving due to symptoms of hypoglycemia (3.25±2.38) and those who reported never having pulled over for hypoglycemia (1.87±1.31) (p=0.012). Respondents with a learner's license reported higher adherence to guidelines than those with a full license.

Clinical education needs to reinforce adherence to recommendations, particularly checking blood glucose or wearing a continuous glucose monitor prior to driving, for all adolescents of driving age. The frequency of mild hypoglycemic events per week is associated with self-reported hypoglycemic events while driving.