Anxiety of physical activity and anxiety of hypoglycaemia in adolescents with diabetes mellitus type 1

Abstract

Aims: the study aimed at establishing the interdependency between the fear of hypoglycaemia and the fear of physical activity in adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Adolescents with diabetes mellitus type 1 exhibit higher trait and state anxiety which is linked to fear of hypoglycaemia. Anxiety of hypoglycaemia and psychological discomfort induced by the illness cause withdrawal from physical activity. Material: fifty patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (average age - 16) and 30 control subjects were tested. Methods: state and Trait Anxiety Inventory, Social Approval Questionnaire, Hypochondria Scale from Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and the authors' questionnaires were employed. Conclusions: fear of hypoglycaemia is connected to fear of physical activity, trait anxiety and somatisation tendency in adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Fear of hypoglycaemia is related to maintaining higher glycaemia, not to withdrawing from physical activity. Discomfort caused by the illness favours physical activity.