Spanish Validation of the Problem Area in Diabetes-Pediatric Version Survey and Its Weak Association with Metabolic...

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Endocrinology
• Psychometrics
• Diabetes Management

Background:

• Pediatric Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) frequently causes emotional distress, negatively affecting self-care.
• The PAID-Peds survey assesses diabetes-related emotional burden but lacks a validated Spanish version.
• This study focused on validating the Spanish PAID-Peds survey for pediatric T1DM patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To validate the Spanish version of the PAID-Peds survey for children and adolescents with T1DM.
• To assess the reliability and construct validity of the Spanish PAID-Peds survey.
• To explore the correlation between emotional burden scores and metabolic control in pediatric T1DM.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study involving 538 pediatric patients (aged 8-17) with T1DM from three Spanish hospitals.
• Psychometric evaluation included Cronbach's alpha for internal consistency and confirmatory factor analysis for construct validity.
• Analysis of associations between PAID-Peds scores and clinical parameters like HbA1c.

Main Results:

• The Spanish PAID-Peds survey demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.90).
• Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed a satisfactory model fit, supporting construct validity.
• A weak but statistically significant correlation was observed between PAID-Peds scores and HbA1c levels (r = 0.14, p < 0.001).

Conclusions:

• The Spanish PAID-Peds survey is a psychometrically sound and reliable instrument for evaluating emotional burden in pediatric T1DM.
• Clinical implementation can facilitate early detection of emotional distress, potentially enhancing diabetes self-management.
• Future research should investigate longitudinal applications and its utility in intervention studies.