Comparing Mizaj (temperament) in type 1 diabetes mellitus and healthy controls: A case–control study

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus (DM), named Ziabites in Persian medicine (PM), was categorized as hot or cold Ziabites according to the Mizaj of patients. This study aimed to compare the Mizaj of patients with newly diagnosed type 1 DM (T1DM) with chronic cases and healthy children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In a case–control study, three groups including chronic T1DM patients (n = 31), newly diagnosed T1DM patients (n = 37), and healthy children as the control group (n = 80) were recruited. Mojahedi Mizaj Questionnaire was used to measure two subscales, hot/cold and wet/dry, of Mizaj for participants. The mean scores of the Mizaj subscales were compared between the groups. Cutoff values were determined using receiver operating characteristic analysis, and the corresponding odds ratio (OR) for each subscale was identified. RESULTS: Overall 148 participants, with a mean age of 10.0 ± 6.2 years, were enrolled in the study. Analysis showed that the mean total heat and total dryness scores were significantly higher in new T1DM than that of chronic patients and healthy children (19.59 ± 1.7 vs. 16.6 ± 2.1 and 18.17 ± 1.9, P < 0.001 for hot/cold and 4.70 ± 1.0 vs. 4.09 ± 0.9 and 4.31±0.8, P= 0.02 for wet/dry). “Extra heat” based on the cutoff value of >18.5 was found to be a risk factor for T1DM (OR = 3.62, 95% confidence interval = 1.52–8.63). CONCLUSION: New T1DM patients have higher frequency of hot and dry Mizaj, which is consistent with the concept of hot Ziabites in PM. Most importantly, we found that “extra heat” in children can be considered as a risk factor for T1DM.