ABSTRACT
AIM: To clarify the role of depressive disorders and personality traits in the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus type I in children and adolescents. MATERIAL AND METHODS: One hundred and three patients with diabetes, aged from one year nine months to 17 years, mean 9.7±0.7), with diabetes mellitus and depressive disorders were studied using clinical-psychopathological, psychometric, paraclinical and statistical methods. RESULTS: Biological and psychosocial risk factors of a somatic disorder have been identified. Mental disorders are represented by affective disorders and personality features of the patients. Affective disorders include mild psychogenic anxiety and asthenic-anxiety depression, personality features are represented by hysterical signs and emotional lability. Clinical variants of these mental disorders and their diagnostic assessment according to ICD-10 are presented. CONCLUSION: The dynamics of diabetes mellitus correlate with characteristics of depressive disorders. This result can be used to optimize the therapy of diabetes mellitus.