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Poor cognitive task performance of insulin-dependent diabetic children (6-12 years) in India
K Jyothi1, S Susheela, V R Kodali
1Department of Child Psychology, J.B.A.S. College for Women, University of Madras, Teynampet, India.
Insights
Children with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) show cognitive dysfunction compared to healthy peers. This impairment is linked to psychosocial factors and metabolic control, not diabetes duration.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Endocrinology
- Neuropsychology
- Child Psychology
Background:
- Type 1 diabetes (formerly IDDM) is a chronic condition affecting children.
- Cognitive function in children with diabetes requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess cognitive function in children with Type 1 diabetes.
- To compare cognitive performance between diabetic and healthy children.
Main Methods:
- Cognitive assessment using Wechsler's coding, digit span test, and Raven's colored progressive matrices.
- Study included 22 children with diabetes and 39 healthy children aged 6-12 years.
Main Results:
- Diabetic children performed significantly worse on all cognitive tasks compared to healthy children (P < 0.001).
- No correlation was found between diabetes duration and cognitive scores.
- No significant performance differences were observed between early-onset and late-onset diabetes groups.
Conclusions:
- Children with Type 1 diabetes exhibit specific cognitive dysfunction.
- Cognitive deficits may be influenced by psychosocial factors and metabolic control.
- Late-onset diabetes also demonstrates detrimental effects on cognitive processes.
Unlabelled:
Cognitive function was assessed in 22 diabetic and 39 healthy children, all in the age group of 6-12 years. Wechsler's coding, digit span test and Raven's colored progressive matrices were included in the battery of tests. The diabetic children underscored on all these tasks compared to the healthy children. The raw scores (mean +/- S.D.), of the diabetic and healthy children were: Wechsler's coding: 17.4 +/- 6.48, 37.4 +/- 9.33; digit span: 22.0 +/- 8.8, 44.1 +/- 7.67 and on Raven's A+AB+B: 16.2 +/- 3.5. 24.1 +/- 6.26; P < 0.001 in each instance, respectively. Duration of diabetes did not correlate with any of the test scores. No significant differences were noted between the early onset (IDDM starting before the age of 5 years) and late onset (IDDM starting after 5 years) diabetic children in their performance. We attribute the very low scores in our diabetic children to the psycho-social factors in addition to the metabolic control.
Conclusions:
(1) specific cognitive dysfunction is present in children with IDDM compared to the healthy children; (2) duration of diabetes did not correlate with cognitive function scores; (3) IDDM manifesting after the age of 5 years also had hitherto unknown detrimental effects on the cognitive process.
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