Educational Attainment and Childhood-Onset Type 1 Diabetes

Objective:

To quantify associations of educational outcomes with type 1 diabetes status and glycemic management (HbA_1c).

Research Design and Methods:

This was a record linkage study of schools and higher (college) education data sets linked to national diabetes audits. The population includes all Welsh children attending school between 2009 and 2016, yielding eight academic cohorts with attainment data, including 263,426 children without diabetes and 1,212 children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Outcomes include standardized educational attainment for those aged 16 years, higher education participation for those aged ≥18 years, and school absences among those aged 6–16 years.

Results:

Comparison between children with type 1 diabetes and children without diabetes showed no strong evidence of associations for student attainment (0.001 SD, 95% CI −0.047 to 0.049, P < 0.96, n = 1,212 vs. 263,426) or higher education entry rates (odds ratio 1.067, 95% CI 0.919–1.239, P < 0.39, n = 965 vs. 217,191), despite nine more sessions of absence from school annually (P < 0.0001). However, attainment in children in the most optimal HbA_1c quintile was substantially better than for children without diabetes (0.267 SD, 95% CI 0.160–0.374, P < 0.001) while being worse than for children without diabetes in the least optimal quintile (−0.395 SD, 95% CI −0.504 to −0.287, P < 0.001). Attainment did not differ by duration of “exposure” to diabetes based on age at diagnosis.

Conclusions:

Despite more school absences, diabetes diagnosis is not associated with educational attainment or entry into higher education, although attainment does vary by HbA1c level, which may be explained in part (or wholly) by unobserved shared personal, family, or socioeconomic characteristics associated with both success in education and effective glycemic self-management.