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Paula Simonen, PhLic; Tapio Korhonen, PhD; Tuula Simell, MPH, PhD; Päivi Keskinen, MD, PhD; Maarit Kärkkäinen, MHSci; Mikael Knip, MD, PhD; Jorma Ilonen, MD, PhD; Olli Simell, MD, PhD

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006;160:1131-1136.

Objective  To assess the anxiety, emotions, thoughts, and coping behaviors of parents 1 week after they receive the results of screening of their infant's genetic risk of type 1 diabetes mellitus.

Design  Survey.

Setting  The population-based Type 1 Diabetes Prediction and Prevention project conducted in Turku.

Participants  Parents of 443 consecutive high-risk infants and 506 next-born low-risk infants.

Interventions  An infant's genetic risk of type 1 diabetes mellitus was measured from cord blood. High-risk information was delivered by telephone and low-risk information by mail 4 weeks later.

Main Outcome Measures  Anxiety measured using the state anxiety scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and feelings, thoughts, and coping behaviors extracted from the questionnaire.

Results  One week after obtaining the results, 67% of mothers and 63% of fathers of high-risk children and 58% of mothers and 54% of fathers of low-risk children had returned the questionnaire. Anxiety levels of parents of high-risk infants were similar to those of parents of low-risk infants (P = .86). More than 90% of the parents thought that it was good to know about the risk. Fifty-five percent of mothers and 37% of fathers of high-risk infants expressed modest worry. Increased anxiety was connected with other stressful life events, catastrophizing thoughts of diabetes mellitus risk, and emotion-focused or avoiding coping attitudes.

Conclusions  Learning about their infant's genetic diabetes mellitus risk induces only mild anxiety in most parents. Identifying the few parents with stronger anxiety helps focus intensified counseling.

Author Affiliations: Departments of Psychology (Ms Simonen and Dr Korhonen), Child Psychiatry (Dr Korhonen), Pediatrics (Drs T. Simell and O. Simell and Ms Kärkkäinen), and Virology (Dr Ilonen), University of Turku, Turku; Hospital District of Satakunta, Pori (Ms Simonen); Department of Pediatrics, Tampere University School of Medicine, Tampere (Dr Keskinen); and Hospital for Children and Adolescents, University of Helsinki, Helsinki (Dr Knip), Finland.

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