Background: Self-care plays an important role in diabetes management. One of the instruments used to evaluate self-care in patients with diabetes is the Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities (SDSCA) questionnaire. A validated instrument in the Malay language is used to assess self-care practice among children and adolescents with diabetes in Malaysia. Objective: To translate and evaluate the psychometric properties of the revised version of the SDSCA questionnaire in the Malay language. Methods: Forward and backward translations were performed. An expert panel reviewed all versions for conceptual and content equivalence. The final version was administered to paediatric patients with diabetes between August 2006 and September 2007. Reliability was analysed using Cronbach’s alpha and validity was assessed using exploratory factor analysis. Results: A total of 117 patients aged 10–18 years were enrolled from nine hospitals. The reliability of overall core items was 0.735 (with item 4) while the reliabilities of the four domains were in the range of 0.539–0.838. As core item number 4 was found to be problematic and it was subtituted by item 5a (from the expanded SDSCA) to suit local dietary education and practice; and the reliabilities of the overall core item (0.782) and the four domains (0.620 – 0.838) improved. Factor loadings of all the items were greater than 0.4, loaded into the original domains, and accounted for 73% of the total variance. Conclusion: The Malay translation of the revised English SDSCA is reliable and valid as a guide for Malaysian children and adolescents suffering from diabetes.

Many studies reported poorer quality of life (QoL) in youth with diabetes compared to healthy peers. One of the tools used is the Diabetes Quality of Life for Youth(DQoLY) questionnaire in English. A validated instrument in Malay is needed to assess the perception of QoL among youth with diabetes in Malaysia. To translate the modified version, i.e., the DQoLY questionnaire,into Malay and determine its reliability and validity. Translation and back-translation were used. An expert panel reviewed the translated version for conceptual and content equivalence. The final version was then administered toyouths with type 1 diabetes mellitus from the universities and Ministry of Health hospitals between August 2006 and September 2007. Reliability was analysed using Cronbach’s alpha, while validity was confirmed using concurrent validity (HbA1c and self-rated health score). A total of 82 youths with type 1 diabetes (38 males) aged 10-18 years were enrolled from eight hospitals. The reliability of overall questionnaire was 0.917, and the reliabilities of the three domains ranged from 0.832 to 0.867. HbA1c was positively correlated with worry (p=0.03). The self-rated health score was found to have significant negative correlation with the “satisfaction” (p=0.013) and “impact” (p=0.007) domains. The Malay translated version of DQoLY questionnaire was reliable and valid to be used among youths with type 2 diabetes in Malaysia.
Diabetes Mellitus ; Quality of Life ; Adolescent ; Reproducibility of Results ; Malaysia

Background: Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a late presentation of newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) in children. The aim of this study was to determine the clinical characteristics of type 1 DM at presentation so that appropriate actions can be taken to promote early diagnosis. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort review from a patient registry database. Data on all patients younger than 20 years old diagnosed with type 1 DM who had been registered with the Malaysian Diabetes in Children and Adolescents Registry (DiCARE) from its inception in 2006 until 2009 were analysed. Results: The study included 490 children and adolescents, out of which 57.1% were female. The mean (SD) age at diagnosis was 7.5 (3.7) years, which increased from year 2000 to 2009 [6.6 (3.3) years to 9.6 (3.5) years; p = 0.001]. An increasing percentage of DKA at diagnosis was observed from year 2000 (54.5%) to year 2009 (66.7%), which remained high and leveled between 54.5% and 75.0%. DKA was more common in patients with normal weight (p = 0.002) with no significant association with age, gender, ethnicity and status of family history of diabetes mellitus. Conclusion: An increasing trend of age at diagnosis of patients with type 1 DM was observed. Besides that, proportion of DKA at diagnosis had remained high over the past decade. This study found that normal weight was associated with status of DKA, thus more detailed investigations are required to determine the risk factors for DKA.