Childhood Psychosocial Measures Could Affect Diabetes Risk

A new Finnish study reports that children with higher psychosocial health measure scores are less likely to develop type 2 diabetes in adulthood. Completed at the University of Helsinki, the findings of this study indicate that a supportive and stable early environment will provide children with the resilience needed to avoid diabetes and obesity.

Researchers obtained the psychosocial scores of over 3,550 children without type 1 diabetes, which included six subdomains: parental health behaviors, socioeconomic status, absence of stressful events, child social adjustment, child self-control, and favorable emotional environment. Blood glucose levels were also measured. At the end of the study, researchers found that participants with higher psychosocial scores had a 21% type 2 diabetes rate decrease than other participants.

These findings were published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine on March 15, 2017.