Kristen Goad
The purpose of this paper is to explore the mental health comorbidities present in adolescent type-1 diabetics and the current process and treatment available for this illness. An integrative review of 10 articles discussing mental health problems present in diabetic patients was performed. Although not every article had the exact preferred population of adolescent type-1 diabetics they did address one or more issues of concern. Many of the studies reviewed found direct links between self-reported depression, anxiety or poor quality of life and increased glycosylated hemoglobin (A1c) values. The CINAHL and Medline databases was use to search articles, articles older than five years were excluded and key phrases used for searching were; type-1 diabetes, adolescents,depression, anxiety and eating disorders. Many of the studies only addressed how to evaluate for mental health disorders; there was not an abundance of follow-up with these studies. There were links found between depression and poor A1c value but only a few studies addressed interventions once a mental health disorder had been identified.
