Aim: To evaluate the social performance of young adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D) since childhood with particular interest in its relation to the severity of diabetic retinopathy (DR).
Methods: The prevalence of DR was evaluated in a population-based Finnish cohort of children with T1D during 1989-1990. The subjects were contacted 18 years later for evaluation of DR, education, employment, and family relations.
Results: 136 of 216 subjects participated in the study in 2007 (mean age 30 ± 3 years, mean diabetes duration 23 ± 4 years, 78 men). There were 42 subjects (31%) with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). A university degree was held by 9%, a degree from a university of applied sciences by 33%, and 45% had a vocational school education; 7% were full-time students while 4% had received no education after comprehensive school. PDR was associated with lower education. Sixty percent of the subjects with PDR and 68% of those with non-PDR held full-time jobs. Four percent of the non-PDR group were unemployed while 26% of subjects with PDR were outside working life because of either unemployment or retirement. Seventy-one percent of the subjects had a spouse, and 60 subjects had a total of 119 children. PDR did not compromise the likelihood of having a spouse and children.
Conclusions: The majority of young adults with T1D take active roles in society by working and raising families. However, patients with PDR lacked secondary education significantly more often and were less likely to work than those with non-PDR.
Keywords: Type 1 diabetes; diabetic retinopathy; education; employment; marital status; social status; visual impairment; young adult.
© 2015 the Nordic Societies of Public Health.