Cognitive functioning in children with early onset type 1 diabetes and severe hypoglycemia.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether severe hypoglycemia in young children with early-onset type 1 diabetes (T1DM) is associated with subsequent abnormalities in cognitive status.


METHODS
Recruitment was from a large population-based database of children and adolescents with T1DM. Children and adolescents with early-onset T1DM (<6 years) were eligible for the study. Diabetic individuals (n = 41) with a prospectively documented history of seizure or coma were compared with peers with no history of severe hypoglycemic events (n = 43). A comprehensive test battery of learning and memory was used together with intellectual and behavioral measures.


RESULTS
No significant group differences were revealed on the intellectual, memory, or behavioral measures. Similarly, those participants with a history of early first seizure did not differ from their peers with no seizures. There were no significant group differences on the memory subtests that were examined given their potential sensitivity to compromised hippocampal function.


CONCLUSIONS
There was no clear evidence from this cohort that episodes of seizure or coma, even those occurring in very early childhood, resulted in broad cognitive dysfunction, nor was there evidence of specific memory difficulties at the time of testing in children and adolescents with early-onset T1DM.
Strudwick
Susan K
SK
Department of Psychological Medicine, Princess Margaret Hospital, Perth, Australia.
Carne
Christy
C
Gardiner
John
J
Foster
Jonathan K
JK
Davis
Elizabeth A
EA
Jones
Timothy W
TW
D017668:Age of Onset; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007003:Hypoglycemia / Q000150:complications*; D007331:Insulin Coma / Q000150:complications; D007360:Intelligence; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D012640:Seizures / Q000150:complications; D014904:Western Australia / Q000453:epidemiology