Table 1.
Comparison of socio-demographic, clinical and psychopathological parameters, and alexithymia between patients with brittle and non-brittle diabetes.
| Socio-demographic, clinical and psychopathological variables | Non-Brittle diabetes (n=88) | Brittle diabetes (n=44) | χ2/t/z |
| Gender(♀) | 56 (66.6%) | 28 (66.6%) | .000 |
| Age | 32.91±4.80 | 32.07±3.21 | .966 |
| Ethnic group (Caucasian) | 88 (100%) | 44 (100%) | .000 |
| Education (years) | 12.59±2.62 | 12.82±3.38 | -.353 |
| Marital status (married) | 52 (59.1%) | 20 (45.5%) | 1.139 |
| Employment status (unemployed) | 8 (9.1%) | 14(31.8%) | 5.657a |
| Diabetes duration (years) | 10.55±6.74 | 12.59±5.48 | -1.562 |
| HbA1c (last measurement) | 7.29±0.99 | 8.60±1.29 | -5.387 |
| Mean HbAlc (last three measurements) | 7.15±1.28 | 8.35±1.20 | -5.005c |
| Presence of diabetes complications | 12 (13.6%) | 26 (59.1%) | 17.728c |
| Retinopathy | 8 (9.1%) | 16 (36.4%) | 7.829b |
| Nephropathy | 4 (4.5%) | 12 (27.3%) | 6.880b |
| Neuropathy | 8 (9.1%) | 14(31.8%) | 5.667a |
| Familiarity for diabetes | 8 (9.1%) | 8 (18.2%) | 2.32 |
| Familiarity for mental disorder | 16 (18.2%) | 14(31.8%) | 1.515 |
| Current use of psychotropic medications | 12 (13.6%) | 8 (18.2%) | .085 |
| Presence of alexithymia | 2 (2.3%) | 8 (18.2%) | 5.993a |
| TAS-20 total score | 39.00±13.89 | 55.05±12.83 | -4.746c |
| TAS-20 “Difficulty identifying feelings” (DIF) | 12.86±4.75 | 14.05±6.80 | -.452 |
| TAS-20 “Difficulty describing feelings” (DDF) | 11.36±4.32 | 22.50±3.98 | -7.766c |
| TAS-20 “Externally-oriented thinking” (EOT) SCL-90-R subscales | 17.14±4.97 | 18.59±6.07 | -1.110 |
| Somatization | 0.54±0.36 | 0.71±0.73 | -.40 |
| Obsessive-compulsive | 0.47±0.26 | 0.56±0.39 | -.29 |
| Interpersonal sensitivity | 0.39±0.33 | 0.42±0.35 | -.25 |
| Depression | 0.48±0.44 | 0.56±0.28 | -.24 |
| Anxiety | 0.46±0.42 | 0.47±0.37 | -.17 |
| Hostility | 0.29±0.28 | 0.37±0.31 | -.48 |
| Phobic anxiety | 0.65±0.38 | 0.89±0.73 | -,43 |
| Paranoid ideation | 0.42±0.41 | 0.45±0.42 | -.30 |
| Psycho ticism | 0.15±0.11 | 0.18±0.12 | -.20 |
| Global severity index (GSI) | 0.33±0.23 | 0.41 ±0.32 | -.35 |
| Positive symptom distress index (PSDI) | 1.30±0.22 | 1.37±0.28 | -1.45 |
| Positive symptom total (PST) index | 28.30±15.43 | 30.50±14.46 | -1.60 |
Legend: ap < 0.05; bp < 0.01; cp < 0.001. Frequencies (percentages), mean ± standard deviation, chi-squared (χ2) test, Students t test, Fishers exact test, and Mann-Whitneys U test (Z) values are reported