Sustained Attention Deficits in Adults With Juvenile-Onset Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

This study aimed to investigate whether patients with juvenile-onset type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) have poorer sustained attention than their counterparts with adult-onset T1DM, and whether there is a relationship between diabetes-related variables and sustained attention.

This study included 76 participants with juvenile-onset T1DM, 68 participants with adult-onset T1DM, and 85 healthy controls (HCs). All participants completed the Sustained Attention to Response Task, Beck Depression Inventory-II, and the Chinese version of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale.

The juvenile-onset group showed more omission errors (p = .007) than the adult-onset group and shorter reaction time (p = .005) than HCs, whereas the adult-onset group showed no significant differences compared with HCs. Hierarchical linear regression analysis revealed that the age of onset was associated with omission errors in T1DM participants (β = -0.275, t = -2.002, p = .047). In the juvenile-onset group, the omission error rate were associated with the history of severe hypoglycemia (β = 0.225, t = 1.996, p = .050), whereas reaction time was associated with the age of onset (β = -0.251, t = -2.271, p = .026). Fasting blood glucose levels were significantly associated with reaction time in both the juvenile-onset and adult-onset groups (β = -0.236, t = -2.117, p = .038, and β = 0.259, t = 2.041, p = .046, respectively).

Adults with juvenile-onset T1DM have sustained attention deficits in contrast to their adult-onset counterparts, suggesting that the disease adversely affects the developing brain. Both the history of severe hypoglycemia and fasting blood glucose levels are factors associated with sustained attention impairment. Early diagnosis and treatment in juvenile patients are required to prevent the detrimental effects of diabetes.